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Unit Standards Specification

Scope​

This specification applies to all business scenarios within the ONE Platform, including page display and API queries.

Scenarios involving metric units on the ONE Platform:

  • Ingesting metric data points (collected via agents or ETL integrations) into the Metrics Hub. Users define the reporting unit and the return unit at metric registration time.
  • Business services on the ONE Platform querying data from the Metrics Hub. The Metrics Hub returns data in the unit defined by the user at registration.
  • Business services on the ONE Platform displaying data on the frontend.

Standard Unit Definitions​

Base Units​

Unit CategoryUnits and ConversionDefault Display Unit
Time86,400,000,000,000 ns = 86,400,000,000 μs = 86,400,000 ms = 86,400 s = 1,440 min = 24 h = 1 dAll metric data specifies a default display unit at registration. If the unit is confirmed but no default is defined, ms is recommended.
Data size (base-2)1 Byte = 8 bit · 1 KiB = 2¹⁰ Byte · 1 MiB = 2²⁰ Byte · 1 GiB = 2³⁰ Byte · 1 TiB = 2⁴⁰ Byte · 1 PiB = 2⁵⁰ Byte · 1 EiB = 2⁶⁰ Byte · 1 ZiB = 2⁷⁰ Byte · 1 YiB = 2⁸⁰ ByteIf the unit is confirmed but no default is defined, KiB is recommended.
Percentage100‱ = 10‰ = 1%If the unit is confirmed but no default is defined, % is recommended.
Countoccurrences, itemsUnit is determined by the metric registration definition. If undefined, leave the unit field empty.
CPUmCores (millicores) — one thousandth of a CPU core—
Unitless—Indicates the data has no unit (null).

Compound Units​

A compound unit is expressed algebraically from base units, using standard mathematical symbols for multiplication and division. For example, the unit for download speed is Byte/s.


Unit Standards​

  • All data units used across ONE Platform business scenarios must be either defined base units or algebraic combinations of them. Arbitrary or ad-hoc unit names are not permitted.
  • Base units are maintained centrally by the platform. If a new metric or data type requires a unit that is not yet defined, submit a base unit registration request to add it to this specification.
  • To keep the unit registry concise, only base units that are actively in use are managed. Unused base units are not included.

Unit Conversion Rules​

The platform defines a precision threshold of one thousandth (1/1000). Unit conversions must not lose more than this level of precision.

Example: 1001 ms can be converted to 1.001 s. Converting to 1.00 s would exceed the allowed precision loss and is not acceptable.

Base unit conversion — Follow the conversion relationships defined in the base unit table while preserving the required precision.

Compound unit conversion — Only the first base unit (the one immediately adjacent to the numeric value) is converted. All other base units remain unchanged.

Example: 19,991 Byte/s = 19.99 KB/s. It must not be converted to 19.99 Byte/ms.


Display Rules​

Note: The current ONE Platform requires the number of decimal places to be specified at metric registration. Consider whether this should be removed in favor of a platform-wide display precision standard.

Because users are more sensitive to small values than large ones, values should be converted to a larger unit as soon as the conversion satisfies the precision requirement.

To ensure readability, always insert a single space between the numeric value and its unit.

Time Units​

  • The unit must always be displayed for time values.

  • Since most time metrics default to milliseconds and are commonly converted to seconds, the unit must always be shown to avoid ambiguity.

  • When displaying time values using compound units, maintain up to

    three levels

    of precision (platform precision requirement of 1/1000):

    • Example: 1d 3h 43min or 3h 43min 34s
  • Because compound time unit conversions are lossless, the following conversion rules apply:

    • When the unit is ms: convert to seconds when the value is ≥ 10,000.00 ms. Example: 19,833.89 ms = 19.83 s
    • When the unit is s or larger: convert to the next unit as soon as the conversion threshold is met. Example: 67.53 s = 1min 7s

Data Size Units​

  • The unit must always be displayed for data size values.

  • Data size conversions can produce dramatically different numbers, making the unit essential for correct interpretation.

  • Convert to the next unit when the integer part reaches

    5 or more digits

    :

    • Example: 9,999 MB — no conversion needed; 10,009 MB → 10.00 GB
  • The maximum unit is PB. When a value expressed in PB is still a large number, apply the following abbreviation rules to improve readability:

Chinese locale

  • Large number threshold: integer part ≥ 5 digits
  • Abbreviation: retain two decimal places and express as 万, 亿, or 万亿 (do not abbreviate beyond 万亿 in extreme cases)
  • Example: 19,876.78 PB = 1.98万 PB;14,749.99万 PB = 1.47亿 PB

English locale

  • Large number threshold: integer part ≥ 5 digits

  • Abbreviation rules: When a value is determined to be a large number, abbreviate it to two decimal places using the K, M, and G suffixes as follows:

    RangeRuleExample
    Value < 1,000Display as-is, rounded to 2 decimal places999.83
    1,000 ≤ value < 1,000,000Divide by 1,000, append K12.34K
    1,000,000 ≤ value < 10⁹Divide by 1,000,000, append M5.67M
    Value ≥ 10⁹Divide by 10⁹, append G1.23G

Percentage Units​

  • The unit must always be displayed for percentage values, as the meaning of a bare number is ambiguous without it.
  • The maximum unit is %. When a percentage value is still a large number, apply abbreviation rules consistent with those for data size units (same thresholds and formatting apply for both Chinese and English locales).

Count and Unitless Values​

  • Count metrics typically have self-explanatory names (e.g., user count, error occurrences, trace count). Unless there is a specific display requirement, the count unit label may be omitted — consistent with how unitless values are handled.
  • Unitless values are displayed as raw numbers. When a value is a large number, apply abbreviation rules consistent with the data size unit rules for the respective locale.

Compound Units​

  • The unit must always be displayed for compound unit values.
  • Conversion and display follow the rules of the corresponding base unit.
  • Note: When a count-type unit is the base unit immediately adjacent to the numeric value in a compound unit, its unit label must not be omitted.

References​

GB 3100-1993 — International System of Units and Its Application