Knack Data Cleaner

Knack Data Cleaner

Purpose

Ensures accuracy for HTI compliance and performance dashboards through data validation, deduplication, normalization, and integrity checks. Critical for NCDIT reporting accuracy.

Core Functions

deduplicate_records

Purpose: Identify and remove/​merge duplicate device or donor records

Detection Strategies:

• Exact match: Same serial number, donor email, etc.
• Fuzzy match: Similar names, close dates
• Bulk import duplicates: Same acquisition batch

Example:

const cleaned = await deduplicate_records({
  object_key: "object_1",
  match_fields: ["serial_number", "acquisition_date"],
  strategy: "keep_latest" // or "merge", "keep_first"
});

// Output:
// {
//   original_count: 3520,
//   duplicates_found: 37,
//   final_count: 3483,
//   removed: [
//     { id: "rec_123", reason: "Duplicate serial: ABC123" },
//     // ...
//   ]
// }

Deduplication Strategies:

const strategies = {
  keep_latest: "Retain most recently modified record",
  keep_first: "Keep oldest record (by created_date)",
  merge: "Combine data from all duplicates",
  manual_review: "Flag for human verification"
};

normalize_fields

Purpose: Standardize data formats for consistency

Normalization Rules:

County Names

const county_normalizer = {
  "wake": "Wake",
  "WAKE": "Wake",
  "Wake County": "Wake",
  "wake co": "Wake",
  "wake co.": "Wake"
};

Phone Numbers

// (919) 555-1234 → 9195551234
// 919-555-1234 → 9195551234
// 919.555.1234 → 9195551234
const normalizePhone = (phone) => phone.replace(/\D/​g, '');

Emails

// Convert to lowercase, trim whitespace
const normalizeEmail = (email) => email.trim().toLowerCase();

Dates

// Standardize to ISO 8601: YYYY-MM-DD
const normalizeDate = (date) => {
  const d = new Date(date);
  return d.toISOString().split('T')[0];
};

Device Status

const status_normalizer = {
  "acquired": "Acquired",
  "ACQUIRED": "Acquired",
  "received": "Acquired",
  "in progress": "In Progress",
  "ready": "Ready for Donation",
  "delivered": "Presented"
};

Example:

const normalized = await normalize_fields({
  dataset: await fetch_all_pages("object_1"),
  rules: {
    county: county_normalizer,
    phone: normalizePhone,
    email: normalizeEmail,
    date: normalizeDate,
    status: status_normalizer
  }
});

validate_integrity

Purpose: Check for logical inconsistencies and data quality issues

Validation Checks:

Date Logic

const date_validations = [
  "acquisition_date < conversion_date",
  "conversion_date < presentation_date",
  "all dates within grant period (2024-2026)",
  "no future dates"
];

Required Fields

const required_by_status = {
  "Acquired": ["donor", "acquisition_date", "quantity"],
  "Converted": ["converted_date", "os_installed", "tested"],
  "Presented": ["recipient", "county", "presentation_date"],
  "Discarded": ["discard_reason", "discard_date"]
};

Value Ranges

const range_validations = {
  quantity: { min: 1, max: 500 },
  training_duration: { min: 0.5, max: 8 },
  participants: { min: 1, max: 100 },
  donation_value: { min: 0, max: 50000 }
};

Geographic Validation

const valid_counties = [
  "Wake", "Durham", "Vance", "Franklin", "Granville",
  "Halifax", "Wilson", "Edgecombe", "Martin", "Hertford",
  "Greene", "Warren", "Northampton", "Person", "Nash"
];

const county_validation = (county) => {
  return valid_counties.includes(county);
};

Example:

const validation_report = await validate_integrity({
  dataset: await fetch_all_pages("object_1"),
  rules: {
    dates: date_validations,
    required: required_by_status,
    ranges: range_validations,
    counties: valid_counties
  }
});

// Output:
// {
//   total_records: 3483,
//   valid: 3401,
//   errors: [
//     { record_id: "rec_123", issue: "Conversion date before acquisition" },
//     { record_id: "rec_456", issue: "Invalid county: 'Raleigh'" },
//     { record_id: "rec_789", issue: "Missing required field: donor" }
//   ],
//   warnings: [
//     { record_id: "rec_234", issue: "Unusually high quantity: 450" }
//   ]
// }

fix_common_issues

Purpose: Auto-correct known data entry mistakes

Auto-Fix Rules:

Trim Whitespace

const fix_whitespace = (record) => {
  Object.keys(record).forEach(key => {
    if (typeof record[key] === 'string') {
      record[key] = record[key].trim();
    }
  });
  return record;
};

Fix Capitalization

const fix_capitalization = (record) => {
  if (record.donor_name) {
    record.donor_name = toTitleCase(record.donor_name);
  }
  if (record.county) {
    record.county = county_normalizer[record.county.toLowerCase()] || record.county;
  }
  return record;
};

Infer Missing Data

const infer_missing = (record) => {
  // If county missing but zip code present, infer county
  if (!record.county && record.zip_code) {
    record.county = inferCountyFromZip(record.zip_code);
  }

  // If discard reason missing but status is Discarded, set default
  if (record.status === "Discarded" && !record.discard_reason) {
    record.discard_reason = "Not specified";
  }

  return record;
};

Example:

const fixed = await fix_common_issues({
  dataset: await fetch_all_pages("object_1"),
  auto_fixes: [
    "trim_whitespace",
    "fix_capitalization",
    "infer_missing_counties",
    "standardize_phone_numbers"
  ]
});

// Output:
// {
//   processed: 3483,
//   fixed: 287,
//   fixes_by_type: {
//     whitespace: 145,
//     capitalization: 67,
//     inferred_county: 42,
//     phone_format: 33
//   }
// }

remove_test_records

Purpose: Exclude dummy/​test data from production reports

Detection:

const is_test_record = (record) => {
  const test_indicators = [
    record.donor_name?.toLowerCase().includes("test"),
    record.donor_email?.includes("test@"),
    record.donor_email?.includes("example.com"),
    record.serial_number?.startsWith("TEST"),
    record.notes?.toLowerCase().includes("do not count")
  ];

  return test_indicators.some(indicator => indicator === true);
};

Example:

const production_only = await remove_test_records({
  dataset: await fetch_all_pages("object_1")
});

// Output:
// {
//   original: 3483,
//   test_records_removed: 8,
//   production_records: 3475
// }

enrich_records

Purpose: Add calculated or derived fields

Enrichment Operations:

Add Calculated Fields

const enrich = (record) => {
  // Add age of device
  record.days_since_acquisition = daysBetween(record.acquisition_date, new Date());

  // Add conversion time
  if (record.converted_date && record.acquisition_date) {
    record.days_to_convert = daysBetween(record.acquisition_date, record.converted_date);
  }

  // Add delivery time
  if (record.presentation_date && record.converted_date) {
    record.days_to_deliver = daysBetween(record.converted_date, record.presentation_date);
  }

  // Flag slow conversions
  record.conversion_delayed = record.days_to_convert > 30;

  return record;
};

Add Geographic Context

const add_region = (record) => {
  const regions = {
    "Triangle": ["Wake", "Durham", "Franklin"],
    "Northeast": ["Vance", "Granville", "Warren", "Halifax"],
    "Eastern": ["Wilson", "Edgecombe", "Martin", "Greene"]
  };

  record.region = Object.keys(regions).find(region =>
    regions[region].includes(record.county)
  ) || "Other";

  return record;
};

Add Donor Tier

const add_donor_tier = (record) => {
  if (record.donation_value > 1000) {
    record.donor_tier = "Major";
  } else if (record.donation_value > 500) {
    record.donor_tier = "Significant";
  } else {
    record.donor_tier = "Standard";
  }
  return record;
};

HTI-Specific Cleaning Workflows

Pre-Quarterly Report Cleaning

async function clean_for_quarterly_report(quarter, year) {
  // 1. Fetch quarter data
  const raw_data = await fetch_all_pages("object_1", {
    filters: quarterly_filter(quarter, year)
  });

  // 2. Remove test records
  const production = await remove_test_records({ dataset: raw_data });

  // 3. Deduplicate
  const unique = await deduplicate_records({
    dataset: production.production_records,
    match_fields: ["serial_number"]
  });

  // 4. Normalize
  const normalized = await normalize_fields({
    dataset: unique.records,
    rules: all_normalizers
  });

  // 5. Validate
  const validated = await validate_integrity({
    dataset: normalized,
    rules: compliance_rules
  });

  // 6. Fix auto-fixable issues
  const fixed = await fix_common_issues({
    dataset: validated.valid_records
  });

  return {
    clean_data: fixed,
    cleaning_summary: {
      original: raw_data.length,
      test_removed: production.test_records_removed,
      duplicates: unique.duplicates_found,
      validation_errors: validated.errors.length,
      auto_fixed: fixed.fixed
    }
  };
}

Pre-Dashboard Data Cleaning

async function clean_for_dashboard() {
  const all_data = await fetch_all_pages("object_1");

  // Quick cleaning for real-time dashboard
  const cleaned = all_data
    .filter(r => !is_test_record(r))
    .map(fix_whitespace)
    .map(fix_capitalization)
    .map(enrich);

  return cleaned;
}

Data Quality Monitoring

Generate Data Quality Report

async function data_quality_report() {
  const all_records = await fetch_all_pages("object_1");

  const report = {
    total_records: all_records.length,
    completeness: {
      with_donor: all_records.filter(r => r.donor).length,
      with_county: all_records.filter(r => r.county).length,
      with_serial: all_records.filter(r => r.serial_number).length
    },
    accuracy: {
      valid_counties: all_records.filter(r => valid_counties.includes(r.county)).length,
      logical_dates: all_records.filter(r => validate_dates(r)).length
    },
    duplicates: await find_duplicates(all_records),
    test_records: all_records.filter(is_test_record).length
  };

  return report;
}

Automated Quality Checks

// Run daily at 2 AM
cron.schedule('0 2 * * *', async () => {
  const report = await data_quality_report();

  if (report.duplicates.length > 10) {
    await alert_admin("High duplicate count detected");
  }

  if (report.accuracy.valid_counties / report.total_records < 0.95) {
    await alert_admin("County data quality below threshold");
  }
});

Integration Points

• knack_reader: Fetch data for cleaning
• knack_pagination: Process large datasets
• knack_reporting_sync: Clean before report generation
• knack_dashboard_ai: Ensure metrics accuracy
• knack_goal_tracker: Validate progress data
• knack_filter_sort: Filter out invalid records

Best Practices

1. Clean before every report: Don't trust raw data
2. Log all cleaning operations: Audit trail for compliance
3. Manual review for ambiguous cases: Don't auto-fix everything
4. Run quality checks daily: Catch issues early
5. Version cleaned datasets: Track data lineage

Grant Compliance

NCDIT Data Standards

• No test/​dummy records in official reports
• All dates must be within grant period
• County assignments must be accurate (15-county requirement)
• Device lifecycle dates must be logical
• Training hours must have supporting documentation

Audit Trail

const cleaning_log = {
  timestamp: new Date(),
  operation: "quarterly_report_cleaning",
  quarter: "Q1",
  year: "2025",
  records_processed: 875,
  issues_found: 23,
  auto_fixed: 18,
  manual_review_needed: 5,
  performed_by: "automated_system"
};