You can select only the top or bottom rank of data with a Rank transformation. The Rank transformation is an active transformation. Use a Rank transformation to return the largest or smallest numeric value in a port or group. You can also use a Rank transformation to return the strings at the top or the bottom of a session sort order. During the session, the Integration Service caches input data until it can perform the rank calculations.

The Rank transformation differs from the transformation functions MAX and MIN, in that it lets you select a group of top or bottom values, not just one value. For example, use Rank to select the top 10 salespersons in a given territory. Or, to generate a financial report, you might also use a Rank transformation to identify the three departments with the lowest expenses in salaries and overhead. While the SQL language provides many functions designed to handle groups of data, identifying top or bottom strata within a set of rows is not possible using standard SQL functions.

You connect all ports representing the same row set to the transformation. Only the rows that fall within that rank, based on some measure you set when you configure the transformation, pass through the Rank transformation. You can also write expressions to transform data or perform calculations.

The following figure shows a mapping that passes employee data from a human resources table through a Rank transformation. The Rank transformation only passes the rows for the top 10 highest paid employees to the next transformation.

As an active transformation, the Rank transformation might change the number of rows passed through it. You might pass 100 rows to the Rank transformation, but select to rank only the top 10 rows, which pass from the Rank transformation to another transformation.

You can connect ports from only one transformation to the Rank transformation. You can also create local variables and write non-aggregate expressions.