Timing and Missing Actions
Understand duration checks, observation windows and missing actions.
21. What is the difference between Duration Length and Duration Difference?
Duration Length measures the total span of a sequence or accepted set. Duration Difference compares two selected event timestamps.
In Any-Order, Duration Length is an inclusive maximum, and Duration Difference uses the absolute gap: either event can happen first. Difference supports <, ≤, =, ≥, and >.
With Recurring, Any-Order includes accepted repeats in total duration. If a selected Duration Difference endpoint repeats, the latest accepted timestamp for that occurrence is used.
22. Are durations based on my data’s timestamps or query execution time?
They use timestamps in your source data. A sequence spanning 30 minutes still has a 30-minute duration even if the query finds it in 2 seconds.
Timing thresholds are entered in milliseconds: 1 second = 1,000 milliseconds.
23. What happens when events have identical timestamps?
The execution pipeline orders records by timestamp without an explicit stable tie-breaker. Do not rely on a particular order between tied records.
This can affect ordered matching and which occurrence receives a record. Two selected Any-Order records with equal timestamps have a zero-second gap, but assignment among tied records is not guaranteed.
24. How does the selected date range affect matching?
It limits the source records available to the query. Records outside the range cannot start, complete, or invalidate a match.
Matching can span days or visits within the selected range if the owner identifier remains the same. zinzu does not automatically infer session boundaries. Use Session ID when you need separate sessions.
25. How do I find a required action that never happened?
Use Is Negation to mark an event whose absence you want to check. At least one positive event is required, and only one event can be negated.
In Any-Order, collect the required positive set first, then check for the negated event in subsequent records.
In Sequence Order, the negated event is terminal, directly before End. A direct named-event predecessor checks the next record; an Any predecessor provides continuing observation. Those are different absence checks.
26. When does negation checking begin, and when does it stop?
In Any-Order, it begins after every required positive occurrence matches and the system filters pass.
Each subsequent record is checked until the negated event appears, the owner’s selected records end, or the sequence record limit is reached.
A forbidden event before readiness does not invalidate the set. A qualifying set on the final record can complete without additional records.
27. Does Duration Length limit the observation period for negation?
In Any-Order, no. It qualifies the required positive set. Once that set qualifies, negation observation continues to the selected data boundary or record limit.
There is no separate “wait 24 hours for absence” control in zinzu. A successful absence result describes only the records actually examined.