[Internal]: Refresh the e-commerce transforms tutorial for the current Kibana UI #8703

Description

The Transforming the eCommerce sample data tutorial is out of date. The Kibana UI steps no longer match the product, one default is wrong, and all seven screenshots date from 2021. Updating the screenshots alone would leave the page inaccurate.

Source file: explore-analyze/transforms/ecommerce-transforms.md

I checked each finding against elastic/kibana and elastic/elasticsearch on origin/main (9.6.0, unreleased) and origin/9.5.

Wrong or misleading content

• Line 368 says that, by default, deleting a transform leaves its destination index and "index patterns" in place. That's true only for the API, where delete_dest_index defaults to false. In Kibana, the delete modal pre-selects Delete destination index and, if the user has permission, Delete data view. "Index patterns" should also be "data views".
• Steps 2 and 3 describe choosing a source index, then choosing the pivot type. In 9.0 to 9.5, that's a source flyout followed by Pivot and Latest cards. On main (9.6), the Create transform button opens a popover where you choose the type first, and the wizard has a Data view picker. The page doesn't scope either flow by version.
• The wizard's Create step (Create and start, Create, Copy to clipboard) isn't mentioned. Step 6 skips the Create and start shortcut.
• The Create data view toggle in Transform details (on by default) isn't mentioned. The Discover steps depend on it.

Smaller issues

• Line 18 says "use the Revenue dashboard". The title is "[eCommerce] Revenue Dashboard".
• Line 13 links to the Explore and analyze index, whose sample data steps use Other sample data sets. manage-data/ingest/sample-data.md says that applies only to 9.0 to 9.3. The page never explains how to install the data.
• Line 44 uses "data frame", a pre-7.x term. Kibana now says "Discover session".
• The Serverless Project scope tips (lines 33 and 309) have no applies_to tag.
• The frontmatter has no description, navigation_title or type, and products lists only elasticsearch although most steps are in Kibana.
• The sample response shows "created": "8.0.0" and a 2021 timestamp.

Screenshots (all last updated in June 2021)

• elasticsearch-reference-ecommerce-pivot1.png
• elasticsearch-reference-ecommerce-pivot2.png
• elasticsearch-reference-ecommerce-pivot3.png
• elasticsearch-reference-ecommerce-pivot4.png
• elasticsearch-reference-manage-transforms.png
• elasticsearch-reference-ecommerce-results.png
• elasticsearch-reference-ecommerce-latest1.png

Several show "Index pattern", Create Kibana index pattern, a Create a transform button, and the pre-8.x Discover UI.

Still accurate

• The API request fields and examples match the current API.
• All sample data fields the page uses exist with compatible types.
• Navigation to Transforms and the relative and {{es-apis}} links are fine.

Unverified

• Whether the new create flow is live on Serverless.
• Whether the main changes have shipped. There is no 9.6 branch yet.

Resources

• Surfaced while refreshing screenshots for Management pages use the new shared application header #8214, which covers the management app header migration. This page was left out of that PR because it needs a rewrite rather than a screenshot swap.
• New create flow with a data view picker: [Transforms] Update create flow with data view picker kibana#280213.
• Transforms AppHeader migration: [Chrome Next] Migrate transforms to AppHeader kibana#287024.

Which deployment methods does this change impact?

Elastic On-Prem and Cloud (all)

What Elastic Stack release is this request related to?

9.6

Collaboration model

The documentation team will create the first draft

Suggested approach

Rewrite the Kibana UI steps (2 to 4, 6, 7 and 9) and keep the API examples with light edits. Document the 9.0 to 9.5 flow and the 9.6 flow together with applies_to, or wait for 9.6 to ship and document it as current. Then fix the frontmatter and refresh all screenshots.

Point of contact

Main contact: @florent-leborgne

Stakeholders: