Rank
The Rank tool ranks all of the input records by a field that you specify. It expresses the results by dividing the records into ranges. For example, you can rank your customers by last month's aggregate sales, and assign them to quintile ranges, effectively dividing your customers into five categories—top 20%, second 20%, and so on. You could just as easily use percentile, decile, or custom ranges. Note that in order to rank by aggregate values (for example, sales per month), you must either start with aggregated information, or use a Summarize tool to generate the aggregate values. The Rank tool generates a new field containing the ranking value.
You can use the Rank tool to:
Perform RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) customer analysis. (See Performing RFM customer analysis.)
Find the best-performing products, defined as top 10% of sales.
Categorize your sales territories into Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor (representing top 25% of sales, next 25%, and so on).
Rank tool configuration parameters
The Rank tool has one set of configuration parameters in addition to the standard execution options:
Rank field name | The field by which records should be ranked. |
Highest rank | The number of ranking divisions. |
Output field name | The numeric field that will hold each record's rank. |
Higher ranks get higher values (invert) | If selected, assigns lower rank values to records that sort first. |
Equal values always have equal ranks | If selected, all records with the same value will be assigned the same rank number. |
Configure the Rank tool
Select the Rank tool, and then go to the Configuration tab on the Properties pane.
Select the field by which records should be ranked from the Rank records by list.
Specify the number of divisions for your ranking in the Highest rank box. For example, setting this to 10 will rank your records from one to ten (deciles). Setting this to 100 ranks your records from 1 to 100 (percentiles).
Enter the name of the Output field name. This is the name of the numeric field that holds each record's rank.
Select Higher ranks get higher values to assign lower rank values to records that sort first. Clear this box to assign higher rank values to records that sort first.
Select Equal values always have equal ranks to ensure that all records with the same value are assigned the same rank number. Note that when this option is selected, rank divisions may be unequally populated.
Optionally, go to the Execution tab, and then set Web service options.