Approximate Count Distinct Metrics not available in Data Warehouse

[farzaanh]

Hi, I was looking to pull a few metrics in Data Warehouse that use the Approximate Count Distinct function on various dimensions, as we're increasingly finding these metrics to yield low traffic bucketing within Adobe Analytics, but I can't seem to get any of these metrics to appear as options within Data Warehouse. Does anyone know if Data Warehouse is incompatible with Approximate Count Distinct?

[PoornimaThakur5 · Accepted solution]

Hello @farzaanh, 

Data Warehouse in Adobe Analytics does not support the Approximate Count Distinct function, which is why you're not seeing those metrics as available options. This function is designed for use in Analysis Workspace to provide near-accurate unique counts while optimizing performance, but Data Warehouse is geared more towards raw data extraction and does not accommodate calculated metrics that rely on session-based or visitor-level logic.

If you need to analyze unique counts across dimensions, it's best to use Analysis Workspace or consider exporting raw data from Data Warehouse and calculating distinct values externally using tools like Excel, SQL, or Python.

Alternatively, you can explore the use of segments or classifications to pre-process the data in a way that can be supported within Data Warehouse.

[eric-hansen-wgu]

Since Data Warehouse works without row limitations, Approximate Count Distinct does not apply to that tool.