Configure Data Quality > Orchestrating data enrichment and validations > Configuring validations

Configuring validations

You can create rule associations to validate field values. You can also perform cross-section validations.

For example, if a record includes a supplier name, you can check whether the record also contains the supplier contact details.

To set business logic for validations, you can create data enhancement rules with the validation plugins and use them in rule associations. A rule association configured with a validation plugin validates whether data matches the specified condition.

When you configure validations, you can choose to downgrade the trust scores of fields that fail validations by specifying the percentage of trust score to downgrade. To display validation errors in records, you can also configure error messages by specifying the error severity. For more information about how the error severity works with the option to reject records with validation errors, see Rejecting records with validation errors.

Note: Validation plugins return validation results and names of fields that fail validation but don't return any output fields.

The following table lists plugins that you can use for validations and the services that plugins use:

Plugin Name	Service that the plugin uses
Allowed Characters	MDM SaaS
Application Integration-based Validation	Application Integration
Contains	MDM SaaS
Data Quality - Validation	Data Quality
Date Range	MDM SaaS
Does not Contain	MDM SaaS
Ends With	MDM SaaS
Greater Than Date	MDM SaaS
Lesser Than Date	MDM SaaS
Maximum Decimal Scale	MDM SaaS
Maximum Length	MDM SaaS
Maximum Precision	MDM SaaS
Maximum Value	MDM SaaS
Minimum Length	MDM SaaS
Minimum Value	MDM SaaS
No Future Date	MDM SaaS
No Space	MDM SaaS
Not Allowed Characters	MDM SaaS
Regular Match	MDM SaaS
Starts With	MDM SaaS

Note: You can't create rule associations with MDM SaaS validation plugins. However, you can use the predefined data enhancement rules to create rule associations. If you want to run rule associations even if all input fields are empty, you can create rule associations with validation plugins.

For more information about creating rule associations, see Step 3. Creating rule associations.

Allowed Characters

To validate whether a value contains the specified allowed characters, use the Allowed Characters plugin.

MDM SaaS contains the Allowed Characters predefined data enhancement rule. You can use the Allowed Characters data enhancement rule to create a rule association.

You can specify whether to consider the following characters in your input value:

•Uppercase
•Lowercase
•Digits
•Symbols
•Whitespaces

The following table lists the input fields and their data types:

Input Field	Data Type
Input	Text
UpperCase	Boolean
LowerCase	Boolean
Digits	Boolean
Symbols	Boolean
Whitespaces	Boolean

For example, to validate whether a product code business entity field contains a value in uppercase letters and digits, map the product code business entity field to the input field of the data enhancement rule. To check whether the value contains uppercase letters and digits, enter the value for input fields, such as uppercase and digits as true. For the other character input fields, you can either enter the value as false or leave the fields empty.

Note: Informatica recommends that you don't map business entity fields to the Uppercase, Lowercase, Digits, Symbols, and Whitespaces input fields. Instead, you can enter the value as true for the input fields that you want to consider for validation.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, create a data enhancement rule with the Allowed Character plugin.

The following table describes the property of the Allowed Characters plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

Application Integration-based Validation plugin

To validate data using an external data provider, use the Application Integration-based Validation plugin.

This plugin uses an Application Integration process to orchestrate data validation. For more information about creating a process for Application Integration-based validation, see Payload formats for Application Integration-based validation.

The following table describes the properties of the plugin:

Property	Description
CAI Process Identifier	Identifier of the Application Integration process that the plugin uses.
CAI Process Name	API name of the process that's specified in the CAI Process Identifier property.
Include only new or updated field group entries	Determines whether the input payload includes only new or updated field group entries. To send all entries of a field group to the Application Integration process, disable the property. For example, if you want to ensure that a record has at least one address entry, disable this property so that the validation service can count the entries in the Address section. Note: When you enable the option to include only new or updated field group entries in the payload, the associated rule association runs only if users add or update entries for the mapped field groups. It doesn’t run even if users add or update a value only in an input root field without adding or updating the field group entries.
Run the selected process even when all input fields are empty	Indicates whether to run the Application Integration process when all input fields are empty. By default, when all input fields are empty, the status of the rule association is automatically set to successful without running the Application Integration process.

Contains

To validate whether a value contains the specified string in the exact order, use the Contains plugin.

MDM SaaS includes Contains and Contains for Case-sensitive predefined data enhancement rules. The Contains data enhancement rule validates the input value without considering case sensitivity. However, the Contains for Case-sensitive data enhancement rule considers case sensitivity when validating the input field value.

The predefined Contains and Contains for Case-sensitive data enhancement rules include the following input fields of the text data type:

•Input
•Substring

For example, to validate whether the order ID business entity field contains the string ord in its value, map the order ID business entity field to the input field of the data enhancement rule, and specify the substring input field value as ord.

If you want to consider case sensitivity for validation, use the Contains for Case-sensitive data enhancement rule.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Contains plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Contains plugin:

Property	Description
Run the rule association even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.
Case sensitive	Specifies whether to consider case sensitivity when validating input values.

When you use the contains plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association even if you don't pass any value for the input and substring fields. And, the data quality tab in business applications display the status of the rule association as Success.

Data Quality - Validation

To use a rule specification configured in Data Quality for validating input field values, use the Data Quality - Validation plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Data Quality - Validation plugin:

Property	Description
Rule Specification	The rule specification that's configured in Data Quality.
Run the rule association even if all input fields are emtpy.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.
Rule Is Valid When Status Is	The validation status of the rule specification. Ensure that the validation status matches the rule specification output for a successful validation.
Rule Status Field	The field where the status of the validation appears. Note: Ensure that you provide the same rule set name that you configured for the rule specification in Data Quality.

Date Range

To validate whether a date is in between two specified dates, use the Date Range plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Date Range predefined data enhancement rule.

The predefined Date Range data enhancement rule contains the following input fields of the calendar data type:

•Input
•Start
•End

For example, to validate whether the event date is between 2025/01/01 and 2025/04/25, map the event date business entity field to the input field of the data enhancement rule. You can enter 2025/01/01 and 2025/04/25 as values for the start and end input fields.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Date Range plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Date Range plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input, start, and end fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

Does Not Contain

To validate that a value doesn't contain specified characters in the exact order, use the Does Not Contain plugin.

MDM SaaS includes Does Not Contain and Does Not Contain for Case-sensitive predefined data enhancement rules. The Does Not Contain data enhancement rule validates the input value without considering case sensitivity. However, the Does Not Contain for Case-sensitive data enhancement rule considers case sensitivity when validating input field values.

The Does Not Contain and Does Not Contain for Case-sensitive predefined data enhancement rules contain the following input fields of text data type:

•Input
•Substring

For example, to validate that the product code business entity field doesn't contain the string HAR in its value, map the product code business entity field to the input field and specify the value of the substring input field as HAR.

To perform validation with case sensitivity, use the Does Not Contain for Case-sensitive predefined data enhancement rule.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Does Not Contain plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Does Not Contain plugin:

Property	Description
Run the rule association even if all input fields are emtpy.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.
Case sensitive	Specifies whether to consider case sensitivity when validating input values.

Ends With

To validate whether a string ends with the specified string, use the Ends With plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Ends With and Ends With for Case-sensitive predefined data enhancement rules. The Ends With data enhancement rule validates the input value without considering case sensitivity. However, the Ends With for Case-sensitive data enhancement rule considers case sensitivity when validating the input field value.

The predefined Ends With and Ends With for Case-sensitive data enhancement rules contain the following input fields of the text data type:

•Input
•Suffix

For example, to validate whether the value of the company name business entity field ends with the string LTD, specify the value of the suffix input field as LTD.

If you don't want to specify a value, you can map the suffix input field to a business entity field.

For example, to validate whether the company name business entity field value ends with the value from the company type business entity field, map the company type business entity field to the suffix input field.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, create a data enhancement rule.

The following table describes the properties of the Ends With plugin:

Property	Description
Run the rule association even if all input fields are emtpy.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.
Case sensitive	Specifies whether to consider case sensitivity when validating input values.

Greater Than Date

To validate whether a date is later than the specified date, use the Greater Than Date plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Greater Than Date predefined data enhancement rule.

The predefined Greater Than Date data enhancement rule contains the following input fields of the calendar data type:

•Input
•Start

For example, to validate whether the employee joining date business entity field is later than the date of birth business entity, map the employee joining date business entity field to the input field and the date of birth business entity field to the start field.

However, if you want to validate whether the order date business entity field is later than 2025/03/28, map the order date business entity field to the input field and the enter the value of the start input field as 2025/03/28.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, create a data enhancement rule with the Greater Than Date plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Greater Than Date plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Greater Than Date plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule even if you don't pass any value for the input and start fields. Additionally, the data quality status tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

Lesser Than Date

To validate whether a date is earlier than the specified date, use the Lesser Than Date plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Lesser Than Date predefined data enhancement rule.

The predefined Lesser Than Date data enhancement rule contains the following input fields of the calendar data type:

•Input
•End

For example, to validate whether the policy start date business entity field value is less than the policy end date business entity field value, map the policy start date business entity field to the input field and the policy end date business entity field to the end field.

However, if you want to validate whether the policy start date business entity field value is less than 2026/01/31, map the policy start date business entity to the input field and enter the value for the end field as 2026/01/31.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, create a data enhancement rule with the Lesser Than Date plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Lesser Than Date plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Lesser Than Date plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input and end fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

Maximum Decimal Scale

To validate whether the number of decimal places is less than or equal to the specified value, use the Maximum Decimal Scale plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Maximum Decimal Scale predefined data enhancement rule.

The predefined Maximum Decimal Scale data enhancement rule contains the following input fields of the numeric data type:

•Input
•Scale

For example, to validate whether the product weight business entity field contains a maximum of one digit after the decimal point, map the product weight business field to the input field and specify the scale value as 1.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Maximum Decimal Scale plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Maximum Decimal Scale plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Maximum Decimal Scale plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input and scale fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

If the input field value is empty and the scale field contains a value, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association and displays the status of the rule association as Success.

Maximum Length

To validate whether the length of a string is less than or equal to the specified length, use the Maximum Length plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Maximum Length predefined data enhancement rule.

The following table lists the input fields and their data types:

Input Field	Data Type
Input	Text
Max	Numeric

For example, to validate whether the first name business entity field exceeds 50 characters, map the first name business entity field to the input field and enter the value for the max input field as 50.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Maximum Length plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Maximum Length plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Maximum Length plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input and max fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

Maximum Precision

To validate whether the total number of digits in a decimal number is less than or equal to the specified value, use the Maximum Precision plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Maximum Precision predefined data enhancement rule.

The predefined Maximum Precision data enhancement rule contains the following input fields of the numeric data type:

•Input
•Digits

For example, to validate whether the product price business entity field exceeds five digits, map the product price business entity field to the input field and enter the digits input field value as five.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Maximum Precision plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Maximum Precision plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Maximum Precision plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input and digits fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

Maximum Value

To validate whether a numerical value is greater than or equal to the specified value, use the Maximum Value plugin.

MDM SaaS provides the Maximum Value predefined data enhancement rule.

The following table lists the input fields and their data types:

Input Field	Data Type
Input	Text
Max	Numeric

For example, to validate whether the age business entity field is greater than or equal to 40, map the age business entity to the input field and enter max field as 40.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Maximum Value plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Maximum Value plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Maximum Value plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input and max fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

Minimum Length

To validate that the length of a string is equal to or greater than the specified length, use the Minimum Length plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Minimum Length predefined data enhancement rule.

The following table lists the input fields and their data types:

Input Field	Data Type
Input	Text
Min	Numeric

For example, to validate that the first name business entity field is within five characters, map the first name business entity field to the input field and enter the min field value as five.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, create a data enhancement rule with the Minimum Length plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Minimum Length plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Minimum Length plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input and min fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

If the input field value is empty and the min field contains a value, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator skips the rule association. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Failed.

Minimum Value

To validate whether a numerical value is less than or equal to the specified value, use the Minimum Value plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Minimum Value predefined data enhancement rule.

The predefined Minimum Value data enhancement rule contains the following input fields of the numeric data type:

•Input
•Min

For example, to validate whether the order quantity business entity field is less than or equal to 10, map the order quantity business entity field to the input field and enter the min field as 10.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, create a data enhancement rule with the Minimum Value plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Minimum Value plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Minimum Value plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association if you don't pass any value for the input and min fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

No Future Date

To validate that a date isn't a future date, use the No Future Date plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the No Future Date predefined data enhancement rule.

The No Future Date predefined data enhancement rule contains only one input field. You can map a business entity field to the input field.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, create a data enhancement rule with the No Future Date plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the No Future Date plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

No Space

To validate that a string doesn't contain spaces, use the No Space plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the No Space predefined data enhancement rule.

The No Spaces data enhancement rule contains only one input field. You can map a business entity field to the input field. For example, to validate that the employee ID business entity field doesn't contain spaces, map the employee ID business entity field to the input field.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the No Space plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the No Space plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

Not Allowed Characters

To validate that a value doesn't contain characters that aren't allowed, use the Not Allowed Characters plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Not Allowed Characters predefined data enhancement rule.

You can specify whether to consider the following characters in your input value:

•Uppercase
•Lowercase
•Digits
•Symbols
•Whitespaces

The following table lists the input fields and their data types:

Input Field	Data Type
Input	Text
UpperCase	Boolean
LowerCase	Boolean
Digits	Boolean
Symbols	Boolean
Whitespaces	Boolean

For example, to validate that the user name business entity field doesn't contain whitespaces and symbols, map the user name business entity field to the input field. You can enter the value for the whitespaces and symbols input fields as true. For the other input fields of other characters, you can either enter the value as false or leave the fields empty.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Not Allowed Characters plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Not Allowed Characters plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

Regular Match

To validate whether a string matches the specified regular expression pattern, use the Regular Match plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Regular Match predefined data enhancement rule.

The predefined Regular Match data enhancement rule contains the following input fields of the text data type:

•Input
•Regex

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Regular Match plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Regular Match plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.

When you use the Regular Match plugin and create a data enhancement rule by enabling the rule to run even if all input fields are empty, Enrichment and Validation Orchestrator runs the rule association even if you don't pass any value for the input and regex fields. Additionally, the data quality tab in business applications displays the status of the rule association as Exception.

Starts With

To validate whether a string starts with the specified string, use the Starts With plugin.

MDM SaaS includes the Starts With and Starts With for Case-sensitive predefined data enhancement rules. The Starts With data enhancement rule validates the input value without considering case sensitivity. However, the Starts With for Case-sensitive data enhancement rule considers case sensitivity when validating the input field value.

The predefined Starts With and Starts With for Case-sensitive data enhancement rules contain the following input fields of the text data type:

•Input
•Prefix

For example, to validate whether the company name business entity field value starts with the string ARC, specify the value of the prefix field ARC.

If you want to run the rule association even if all input field values are empty, you must create a data enhancement rule with the Starts With plugin.

The following table describes the properties of the Starts With plugin:

Property	Description
Run rule associations even if all input fields are empty.	Enable this property to run the rule association even if none of the input fields contain any value.
Case sensitive	Specifies whether to consider case sensitivity when validating input values.