Systems, methods, and software of processing a tabular dataset. In one embodiment, a system extracts raw association rules from the tabular dataset. Each of the raw association rules comprises a relationship between a set of antecedents and a single consequent, and corresponds to one or more transactions. The system determines potential rule merge groups of the raw association rules based on the antecedents, and determines one or more actual rule merge groups of the raw association rules in each potential rule merge group based on the transactions. The system combines the raw association rules in an actual rule merge group to generate a merged association rule. The system then generates a set of insights based on one or more merged association rules, and performs an operation based on the set of insights.