Microsoft SQL Server Master Data Services: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:13, 7 August 2013

Revision as of 15:43, 15 August 2013

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== Terminology ==

* ''Model'' is the highest level of an MDS instance. It is the primary container for specific groupings of master data. In many ways it is very similar to the idea of a database.

* ''Entities'' are containers created within a model. Entities provide a home for members, and are in many ways analogous to database tables. (e.g. Customer)

* ''Members'' are analogous to the records in a database table (Entity) e.g. Will Smith. Members are contained within entities. Each member is made up of two or more attributes.

* ''Attributes'' are analogous to the columns within a database table (Entity) e.g. Surname. Attributes exist within entities and help describe members (the records within the table). Name and Code attributes are created by default for each entity and serve to describe and uniquely identify leaf members. Attributes can be related to other attributes from other entities which are called '___domain-based' attributes. Other attributes will be of type 'free-form' (most common) or 'file'.

* ''Attribute Groups'' are explicitly defined collections of particular attributes. Say you may have an entity (Customer) that is comprised of 50 different attributes; too much information for many of your users. Attribute groups enable the creation of custom sets of hand-picked attributes that are relevant for specific audiences. (e.g. Customer - Delivery Details that would include just their name and last known delivery address)

* ''Hierarchies'' organise members into either Derived or Explicit hierarchical structures. Derived hierarchies, as the name suggests, are derived by the MDS engine based on the relationships that exist between attributes. Explicit hierarchies are created by hand using both leaf and consolidated members.

* ''Business Rules'' can be created and applied against model data to ensure that custom business logic is adhered to. In order to be committed into the system data must pass all business rule validations applied to them. e.g. Within the Customer Entity you may want to create a business rule that ensures all members of the 'Country' Attribute contain either the text "USA" or "Canada". The Business Rule once created and ran will then verify all the data is correct before it accepts it into the approved model.

* ''Versions'' provide system owners / administrators with the ability to Open, Lock or Commit a particular version of a model and the data contained within it at a particular point in time. As the content within a model varies, grows or shrinks over time versions provide a way of managing metadata so that subscribing systems can access to the correct content.

== References ==