Enterprise Records

An enterprise record includes all components of a record that represents one entity. The master index application stores two different types of records in each enterprise record: system records and a single best record (SBR). A system record contains an enterprise record’s information as it appears in an incoming message from an external system. An enterprise record’s SBR stores data from a combination of external systems and it represents the most reliable and current information contained in all system records for an enterprise record. An enterprise record consists of both system records and the SBR.

System Records

The structure of a system record is different from the SBR in that each system record contains a system and local ID pair. The remaining information contained in the system records of an enterprise record is used to determine the best data for the SBR in that enterprise record. If an enterprise record only contains one system record, the SBR is identical to that system record (less the system and local ID information). However, if the enterprise record contains multiple system records, the SBR might be identical to one system record but will more likely include a combination of information from all system records.

The Single Best Record

The SBR for an object is created from the most reliable information contained in each system record representing that object. The information used from each external system to populate the SBR is determined by the survivor calculator, which is configured in the Best Record file. This data is determined to be the most reliable information from all system records in the enterprise record. The survivor calculator can consider factors such as the relative reliability of an external system, how recent the data is, and whether the SBR contains any “locked” field values. You define the rules that select a field value to be persisted in the SBR.

Objects in an Enterprise Record

In a master index application, each system record and SBR in an enterprise record typically contains a set of objects that store different types of information about the business object. A record usually contains a parent object and several child objects. A record can have only one parent object, but can have multiple child objects and multiple instances of each type of child object. For example, if the business object being indexed is a person, the record can only contain one primary name and social security number, which would be contained in the parent object (for example, a person object). However, the record could have multiple addresses, telephone numbers, and aliases, which would each be defined in different child objects (for example, in address, phone, and alias objects). Each address would be stored in a different instance of an address object.