# How to represent time based periodic data for use in ML

I have a dataset of following format -

Number of Machines
CustId   Month0   Month-1   Month-2   Month-3   Month-4
abc      23       26        29        0         0
def      53       26        22        22        12
ghi      11       26        150       120       10

Size of data protected
CustId   Month0   Month-1   Month-2   Month-3   Month-4
abc      23       26        29        0         0
def      53       26        22        22        12
ghi      11       26        150       120       10


The data is Month-over-Month data. For simplicity I have used the same data in both tables, but for a given CustId data will be present in both the tables. Similarly there are tables for other parameters as well.

I want to use machine learning for some classification. What is the best way to serialize this MoM data for different parameters? Is there any standard practice for this?

Edit:

I am not sure of what are the distinctive patterns in the graphs of the parameters for different classification categories. By graph of the parameter I mean Number of machines plotted against Month.

One thing I can do is to combine all the tables with format something like -

    CustId   ----# machine---       -------data protected-----
Month0   Month-1 ...   Month0   Month-1   Month-2 ...
abc      23       26      ...   23       26        29      ...
def      53       26      ...   53       26        22      ...
ghi      11       26      ...   11       26        150     ...


But I don't want to use this format because in here all the columns (monthly data) would be treated as independent data points. I want the columns under '# machine" category to be treated as group and the columns under "data protected" as another group.

I came across this Python Library (tsFresh) which extracts information from the graphs. I am looking for something similar or any other way to approach this problem.

• As a human, what do you think is a telling factor for deciding the classification you are trying to do? Mar 27 '17 at 15:22
• @JahKnows I am not sure of what are the distinctive patterns in the graphs of the parameters for different classification categories. One of the expected outcomes from this machine learning exercise is to find such distinctive patterns if any. Mar 28 '17 at 6:05
• I am not talking about the correlation between features. I am talking about the intuition behind the problem. It is important to consider what the data means. What is #machines? What is data protected? What are the numbers underneath them. Mar 28 '17 at 12:54
• So far tsFresh is the best tool I have found for extracting information from time based data. Apr 4 '17 at 4:53