Configuring rule associations for data enrichment and validations
Configure rule associations to specify the type of operation, such as enrichment or validation, and to map input and output fields.
1To group related objectives, create an objective group.
2Add an objective to the objective group.
3To map input and output fields of data providers, add rule associations to the objective.
aTo specify the data provider, add or create a data enhancement rule.
bTo specify the fields or relationships to enrich, map input and output fields.
Step 1. Creating an objective group
You can create an objective group to group similar objectives. Group similar objectives to conveniently migrate all the related objectives and assets between organizations.
For example, if you use multiple objectives to update contact information in records, you can group them into an objective group. Avoid multiple objectives enriching the same fields because you might get unintended results in those fields.
1Open the business entity that you want to enrich, and click Data Quality > Objective Groups.
2Click Add Objective Group.
3In the Objective Group dialog box, enter a name and internal ID for the objective group, select a folder, and save the objective group.
After you create an objective group, you can add objectives to the objective group.
Step 2. Adding objectives to an objective group
Add an objective that aligns with a specific business goal for data enrichment.
To address complex enrichment and validation requirements, you can add multiple rule associations to an objective. Rule associations in an objective run sequentially based on their order. You can also configure record types and triggers for an objective. For more information about the record types and trigger settings, see Advanced objective settings.
1On the business entity page, click Data Quality > Objective Groups.
2Open the objective group that you want to add objectives to.
3To create an objective, click Add Objective.
4In the Properties panel, specify properties, such as name and description.
The Properties panel also displays settings, such as Record Types and Triggers. These settings determine the types of records to which you want to apply an objective and when to apply it.
5To enable the objective, click the Enable toggle.
Note: By default, an objective is disabled. The objective is applied to records only if you enable it.
6To specify the types of records, click Edit in the Advanced Settings section, and perform the following steps:
aClick the Records Types tab.
bTo apply the objective to master records, select Master Records.
cTo apply the objective to source records, select Source Records, and specify a source system.
By default, the objective is triggered for all records. If you specify a source system, the objective is triggered only when the source records belong to the specified source system.
7To enable data dependency between rule associations, turn on the Enable data dependency between rule associations toggle.
8To trigger the objective when records are ingressed or imported, click the Triggers tab in the Advanced Settings dialog box, and perform the following steps:
aIn the Ingress section, turn on the Enable the objective for ingress toggle.
bTo reject records that fail validations, select Reject records that fail validation.
9To trigger the objective when records are submitted in business applications, click the Triggers tab in the Advanced Settings dialog box, and perform the following steps:
aIn the Business Applications section, turn on the Enable the objective for business applications toggle.
bTo allow users to submit records that fail validations, clear Prevent submission of records that fail validation.
Note: When you configure an objective to apply only to master records, you can't reject records with validation errors. For more information about the rejecting records with validation errors, see Rejecting records with validation errors.
cConfigure one of the following trigger conditions:
▪ On submission. Triggers the objective when a record is submitted.
▪ On section save and submission. Triggers the objective when a section is saved and when the record is submitted.
▪ On field focus change and submission. Triggers the objective when the field focus changes in a record and when the record is submitted.
Note: Rule associations that use Application Integration-based plugins don't run when field focus changes. When field focus changes or a user applies changes to a section, rule associations that assign records to hierarchies don't run. For more information about triggers and trigger conditions, see Configuring business applications as an objective trigger.
10To trigger the objective when a record is created or updated through REST APIs, click the Triggers tab in the Advanced Settings dialog box, and perform the following steps:
aIn the REST APIs section, turn on the Enable the objective for REST APIs toggle.
bTo allow APIs to create records that fail validations, clear Reject records that fail validation.
11Add rule associations that you created.
aClick Add Rule Association.
A row with the asset picker appears in the Rule Association section.
bSelect a rule association, and click the tick mark icon to add the rule association.
cTo add more rule associations, repeat steps 11.a to 11.b.
dTo change the order of rule associations, click the Action menu and choose Move up or Move down.
12To remove a rule association from the objective, click the Action menu for the rule association and choose Delete.
13Save the changes.
Step 3. Creating rule associations
Create a rule association to map the input and output fields of the data provider with business entity fields or a hierarchy model.
If you add a data enhancement rule with a validation or cleansing plugin, you can configure messages for validation failures. You can also configure to downgrade trust score for fields that fail validation. Optionally, you can assign static values to input and output fields.
6On the Map Fields page, click the Input Mapping tab.
7To specify the fields on which the rule association must run, map the business entity fields to the data provider fields.
Note: To map a source field with a target field, select fields from the source and target panels, and click Map Selected. You can also assign a static value instead of mapping a field.
8Click the Output Mapping tab, and select a source system.
Note: When you map output fields in a rule association without specifying a source system, MDM SaaS associates the Default or Informatica Customer 360 source system with the patch record that's created or updated as a result of data enrichment.
9Map output fields to accomplish one of the enrichment use cases.
- To enrich fields of records, select a business entity as the target and map the data provider fields to the business entity fields or assign a static value.
- To classify records, select a hierarchy model as the target and map the data provider fields to the relationship nodes in the hierarchy model.
Note: After you save the rule association, you can't change the target. For example, if you select a hierarchy model as the target, you can't change the target to another hierarchy model or a business entity after you save the rule association.
10If you choose a data enhancement rule that uses a validation or cleansing plugin, configure validation on the Configure Validation tab.
aFrom the Error Status list, select one of the following options to define the severity of the validation failure:
▪ Information. For minor data quality issues. Users can save the data.
▪ Warning. For less severe data quality issues. Users can save the data.
▪ Error. For severe data quality issues. Users can't save the data.
11Configure the percentage by which you want to downgrade the trust score for fields that fail validation.
aAdd a field to downgrade the trust score.
bEnter the percentage of trust score to downgrade when the validation fails.
12Save the rule association.
13Add the rule association to an objective.
Creating a data enhancement rule
To configure an enrichment or validation type, add a data enhancement rule and configure its parameters.
1On the rule association page, click Add Data Enhancement Rule.
2In the Add Data Enhancement Rule dialog box, enter the details of the rule, and click OK.
3On the Data Enhancement Rule Settings page, select a plugin from the plugin list.
You can specify if a rule association can return a successful status without running when all its input fields are empty.
For example, when you create a record if a user adds a value to a root field and submits a record, all objectives configured for all sibling root fields are triggered. Also, when a user adds a field group entry, all objectives configured for the fields of the field group are triggered. When an objective with multiple rule associations is triggered, all rule associations in that objective run even though users add or update values only in fields associated with any one of the rule associations.
If all input fields are empty, the plugins don't send requests to the Application Integration processes that the associated data enhancement rules use, and MDM SaaS sets the rule associations as successful. You can change this behavior by enabling the Run the selected process even when all input fields are empty property in a data enhancement rule. If you enable this property, ensure that the processes contain a business logic to handle empty input fields.
If you don’t have business logic to handle empty input fields and a plugin returns an invalid response, the associated rule association is marked with the Exception status.
Disabling an objective
To prevent all rule associations in an objective from running, disable the objective that the rule associations belong to.
If you disable an objective, all rule associations in the objective are disabled, but the records that the rule associations previously validated continue to display validation messages in business applications. Therefore, ensure that you resolve the validation errors before you disable the objective associated with those validation errors.
1On the business entity page, click Data Quality > Objective Groups.
2Open the objective group that contains the objective you want to disable.
3In the Objectives panel, select the objective.
4In the Properties panel, click the Enable toggle to disable the objective.
5Save the objective group.
Disabling rule associations in an objective
To prevent a rule association from running on records when an objective is triggered, disable the rule association without removing it from an objective.
When you add a rule association to an objective, it's enabled by default. If you disable a rule association, the rule association doesn't run again, but the records that the rule association previously validated continue to display validation messages in business applications. Therefore, ensure that you resolve the validation errors before you disable the rule association associated with those validation errors.
1On the business entity page, click Data Quality > Objective Groups.
2Open the objective group that contains the objective.
3In the Objectives panel, select the objective.
4Click the Actions menu for the rule association that you want to disable, and then click Disable.
5Save the objective group.
Guidelines for configuring data enrichment
Consider the following guidelines to configure data enrichment:
•Ensure that you create custom Application Integration processes based on the guidelines for creating processes.
•To track enriched records, define a custom source system. When you map output fields in a rule association without specifying a source system, MDM SaaS associates the Default or Informatica Customer 360 source system with the patch record that's created or updated as a result of data enrichment.
•If you configure data enrichment to display recommendations for classifying records, ensure that you add the Hierarchy component to your custom page of the view edit type. Without the Hierarchy component, CLAIRE panel doesn't display recommendations in business applications.
•If you update the data types of fields in a process or add new fields to a process, the changes don't reflect in the data enhancement rule and rule association that use the process. To update the field mappings in the rule association, create and configure a new data enhancement rule and a rule association.
•Ensure that you map the compatible fields. For more information about compatible fields, see Guidelines for mapping fields.
•When you create a data enhancement rule, ensure that you use a published process with valid input and output payload formats. If an existing data enhancement rule doesn't work, verify and correct the input and output formats of the process that the rule uses. For more information about valid input and output formats, see Creating a process for data enrichment.
•After you configure or migrate a data enhancement rule that uses an Application Integration process, ensure that the value in the Process Name property matches the API name of the process.
•Ensure that you create unique data enhancement rules. You can't create duplicate data enhancement rules with the same configurations.
•When you create objective groups, rule associations, and data enhancement rules, specify unique names for them. You can't create multiple assets with the same display name in the same location.
•When you configure an objective for source records, don't add a rule association that assigns records to a hierarchy. You can't assign source records to a hierarchy.
•When you configure an objective with the On section save and submission trigger condition, don't add a rule association that assigns records to a hierarchy. Rule associations that assign records to a hierarchy don't run when a user applies changes to a record section.
•When you specify a value to downgrade trust scores of fields that fail validation, specify a value between 0 and 100.
•If you configure a rule association to display enrichment data as CLAIRE recommendations and enable data dependency between rule associations, place the rule association that displays recommendations at the end of the rule association list in the objective.
•When you configure an objective with the On field focus change and submission trigger condition, ensure that the rule associations within the objective use compatible plugins. You can't use the Application Integration plugins with the On field focus change and submission trigger condition.
•Avoid configuring multiple objectives that modify the same output fields. You can't determine which objective results are applied to the fields because objectives run in parallel.
•If you configure an objective for both master and source records, the objective is triggered twice. It is triggered when a source record is created or updated, and when a master record is created or updated. Verify your configurations to avoid running objectives multiple times and producing unintended results. For example, if your custom specification returns true when the field is null and false in other cases, an objective configured for both master and source records might produce incorrect results. This issue occurs because the objective sets a Boolean field with a null value to true when applied to a source record, but then sets the field to false when applied to the master record.
•Ensure that plugins return valid output data for the fields in business entity records. MDM SaaS validates the data in the plugin response before saving the data in a record. If a plugin response contains invalid data for a field, MDM SaaS marks the rule association with an Exception status. For example, if the plugin returns a value other than a country code for the Country field, MDM SaaS marks the associated rule association with the Exception status.
Guidelines for configuring Application Integration-based enrichment and validation
When you configure objectives that use Application Integration processes, consider the following guidelines:
•When you use the On section save and submission trigger condition, ensure that Application Integration processes respond quickly. Otherwise, users might notice slow responses in the user interface, which can negatively impact their experience.
•Ensure that Application Integration processes take no more than five seconds to respond. A process that exceeds this threshold might be timed out, leading to incomplete processing.
•Design small, focused objectives. Objectives are the execution units in Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator. Avoid using many rule associations in a single objective because all rule associations in an objective run sequentially. Break objectives into smaller units with a maximum of three rule associations each. Leverage running objectives in parallel. Multiple objectives run in parallel, improving overall processing speed.
•Monitor total run time. Ensure that the cumulative run time for all objectives associated with a business entity stays under 30 seconds. If processing time exceeds this threshold, MDM SaaS times out and discards the results of the objectives.