How do I collapse duplicate connections?

In some networks, you might want to collapse duplicate connections (i.e. multiple connections between the same pair of elements).

We don't offer this feature directly in Kumu, but we wrote a custom Google Sheets formula called KUMU_COLLAPSE to make it easier to collapse and de-duplicate connections inside your spreadsheet.

To get access to the custom formula, you can open our "With custom Kumu formulas" Google Sheet, then click "File" > "Make a copy" to create your own editable copy of the sheet.

Delete all the example tabs in your spreadsheet, then create a new tab, and put your original connection list in that tab. Be sure to add (ignore) to the tab name to make sure Kumu doesn't try to import it.

Then, add a new tab, and type =KUMU_COLLAPSE( in cell A2 to get started (leaving space in row 1 to add column headers later on).

Sample usages

KUMU_COLLAPSE(A1:J10)

KUMU_COLLAPSE(A1:J10, "mutual")

Syntax

KUMU_COLLAPSE(connections, direction)

Parameter	Description
connections	A cell range containing the list of connections you want to collapse. Note: This cell range should not include the column headers from your original connection list.
direction	The direction ("undirected" or "mutual") that should be assigned to a connection after a duplicate pointing in the other direction is discovered. Defaults to "undirected".

KUMU_COLLAPSE returns the collapsed connection list, without column headers. This result will span across multiple columns and rows.

In addition to the From and To elements for each connection, KUMU_COLLAPSE will include any original profile data that was included in the cell range you passed as the connections parameter.

After that profile data, KUMU_COLLAPSE will include:

• The number of connections (in either direction) that were found between the From and To elements in the original connection list

• The direction of the connection. This will be directed if connections in the original dataset only ever travel in one direction. If connections were detected traveling in both directions between a pair of elements, KUMU_COLLAPSE will assign undirected or mutual as the connection direction, depending on what you passed to the direction parameter.

How to handle column headers

Intentionally, KUMU_COLLAPSE doesn't carry over your column headers, and you should not include them in the original cell range you pass as the first parameter to KUMU_COLLAPSE.

Instead, you should copy/paste you original column headers over, placing them in row 1, directly above the result from KUMU_COLLAPSE.

At the end, where KUMU_COLLAPSE lists the number of duplicate connections and the connection direction, you'll have two blank column headers.

For the number of duplicates, it's most common to put Strength as the connection header. For the connection direction, you can put direction in all lowercase letters, and when you import the data, Kumu will understand that you are using that column to add arrows to connections.