Developed by the Data Mining Group, an independent, vendor led committee, PMML provides an open standard for representing data mining models. In this way, models can easily be shared between different applications avoiding proprietary issues and incompatibilities. Currently, all major commercial and open source data mining tools already support PMML
PMML is an XML-based language which follows a very intuitive structure to describe data pre- and post-processing as well as predictive algorithms. Not only does PMML represent a wide range of statistical techniques, but it can also be used to represent input data as well as the data transformations necessary to transform raw data into meaningful features.
As part of the Data Mining Group, Zementis is committed to the continual development of PMML. It is our vision for the community that users will be free to share models among many solutions, benefiting from an environment in which interoperability is truly attainable.
You can use the PMML converter to validate your PMML file against the specification for versions 2.1, 3.0, 3.1, and 3.2. If validation is not successful, the converter will give you a file back with explanations for why the validation failed (click on the "details" hyper-link).
Before actual conversion takes place, the validation phase needs to be successful, i.e. your file needs to conform to the PMML specification as published by the DMG (for any of the older PMML versions listed above).
The PMML converter currently converts the following model elements to PMML 3.2:
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Association Rules Clustering Models Decision Trees General Regression Models Regression Naive Bayes Classifiers Neural Networks Regression Models Support Vector Machines |
It will also convert pre- and post-processing PMML elements.
For more information on how to use the converter, please watch our VIDEO TUTORIAL.
Please note that our converters were built to the best of our knowledge to make the transition from previous PMML versions to version 3.2 as transparent as possible. However, please make sure to validate the resulting file in ADAPA after conversion by comparing expected and computed results.
If problems arise, e.g., due to various custom PMML extensions used by other vendors, please do not hesitate to contact us. We are happy to work with you to extend our converters and are planning to release the code under an open source license in the future.
The audit dataset is available through the R rattle package. For more information on rattle, please refer to http://rattle.togaware.com.
The shuttle O-ring data is based on a number of O-ring failures for each shuttle flight preceding the Challenger disaster. The cause of the explosion was determined to be an O-ring failure in the right solid rocket booster. The Challenger disaster has become a case study in the possible consequences of poor data analysis.
PMML Community Forum
For an on-going discussion and to read about the latest PMML news, we would like to invite you to join the PMML group in LinkedIn or the discussion forum in the PMML group on Analytic Bridge, a social network community for analytics professionals.
PMML Links
We have compiled a list of useful PMML links below. Please, make sure to check them if you would like to become a PMML pro.
- Book - PMML in Action: Unleashing the Power of Open Standards for Data Mining and Predictive Analytics.
- Data Pre-Processing in PMML and ADAPA - A Primer: Contains several examples on how to manipulate data in PMML.
- Data Mining Group Home
- PMML 3.2 Specification - supported by most vendors.
- PMML 4.0 Specification - released June 16, 2009.
- PMML page on wikipedia
- PMML Knol
- PMML: An Open Standard for Sharing Models - Article published in The R Journal.
- KDD 2009 Panel on Open Standards and Cloud Computing: A dialogue among DMG members and vendors on the future of PMML and what the latest release of PMML represents.
- Zementis Blog: Issues and tips on how to export PMML from your favorite modeling tool.


