Topic entity limits

To ensure system efficiency and stability, and to prevent runaway growth, the number of certain Text Analytics topic entities is limited by type. Limited topic entities include topics, rules, rule blocks, NEAR elements, word groups, and word group words.

Limits are displayed on the Topics screen and the rule editor as {quantity} / {limit} {entity}. If the number of entities cannot be calculated, two hyphens (--) are displayed in place of the quantity. Total topic counts include active, draft, parent, child, standard, and compound topics. Quantities update in real time as entities are created and removed, or as different languages and segments are selected.

As a topic or topic set approaches the maximum number of an entity, a warning banner displays. When a topic or topic set has the maximum number of an entity, additional entities of that type cannot be created until some are removed. This includes entities created with Smart Topic Builder.

Active topics and related entities are not impacted when any entity count is at the maximum, and ongoing, asynchronous automatic text processing for already published, active rules continues. If topic XML is imported with entities that exceed the maximum, entities from imported XML are added up to the limit, and the rest are rejected. Rejections are listed in an error log.

Topic entities are limited to these quantities:

1500 topics in a topic set
3000 rules in a standard topic
500 rules in a compound topic
200 rule blocks in a topic rule
15 NEAR connections in a rule
5000 word groups
1200 words in a word group

Limits display in these areas of Topic Builder, above the list of entities or below the rule block:

On the Topic Hierarchy tab
In a topic's rules list
In the rule editor when editing a rule
In the preview panel's word groups list
In the word group editor when creating or modifying a word group

Entity limits are not configurable in Admin Suite. For more information, contact your Medallia expert.

Entity configuration and maintenance

If a topic set is at or approaching the topic limit, consider these best practices to reduce the quantity:

Create a backup of your topics and hierarchy before changing or removing entities.
Remove unused, deactivated, redundant, overlapping, or hidden topics, especially if the topic has not tagged any data in the last 30 days.
Important: Topics cannot be deleted or deactivated if those topics are currently hard-coded or referenced in topic alerts or k-fields. Remove the reference before attempting to delete or deactivate the topic.

If a topic is at or approaching the rule limit, consider these best practices to reduce the quantity:

Create a backup of your topics and hierarchy before changing or removing entities.
Use word groups to consolidate lists of synonyms into a single entity referenced by one rule instead of rules for each synonym.
Isolate and prune rules with the "Show unique matches" option in the preview panel.

Review unique matches for each rule. If an active rule yields 0 unique matches, it is safe to prune, immediately lowering their entity count without diminishing their overall true tagging rate or topic coverage.
Review the rules in different segments. If there are overlapping tagged comments within segments, consider making segment conditions more strict.

For word groups and their words approaching their maximum quantities, delete unused word groups, or create new word groups for excess words.

After modifying or deleting rules and word groups, historical updates overwrite old data in reverse-chronological order. Deactivating a topic removes topic tagging from historical survey profiles upon reprocessing.