Configure Data Quality > Orchestrating data enrichment and validations > Field mappings in rule associations

Field mappings in rule associations

When you create rule associations, you can map the input and output fields of the data enhancement rule to the business entity fields.

After a user updates one of the mapped input fields in a record and submits the record, the objective that the rule association is part of is triggered. The rule association runs, and the data that the data provider returns is applied to the mapped output fields. Based on the trigger settings in the objective, the objective is triggered when you ingress or import records, submit records in business applications, or create or update records through REST APIs.

Mapping field groups for data enrichment

When you map field groups in a rule association for data enrichment, consider the following restrictions:

•You can’t map multiple field groups to the same target field group. For example, you can't map the field groups named Email and Phone from a business entity to the Contacts field group of the data provider.

The following image shows an invalid field group mapping with multiple field groups mapped to a target field group:

A sample invalid mapping shows that the Email and Phone field groups from the Source Field panel are mapped to the Contacts field group on the Target Field panel.

•You can’t map multiple field groups to root fields. For example, you can't map the field groups named Email and Phone from a business entity to the Email and Phone root fields of the data provider. You can map only one field group to the fields at the same level.

The following image shows an invalid field group mapping with multiple field groups mapped to target root fields:

A sample invalid mapping shows that the Email and Phone field groups from the Source Field panel are mapped to the Email and Phone root fields on the Target Field panel.

•When you map nested field groups, you can’t map multiple sibling field groups to a target field group.

The following image shows an invalid nested field group mapping:

A sample invalid mapping shows that the nested field groups named Email and Phone from the Source Field panel are mapped to the Contacts field group on the Target Field panel.

•If a business entity field group isn't mapped in the input mapping and you map the field group in the output mapping, ensure that you map all required fields in the field group. If you don’t map all required fields in the field group, you can’t save the rule association. For example, if the business entity Address field group isn't mapped in the input mapping and you map a field group to the Address field group in the output mapping, map all required fields in the Address field group.

Assigning static values to input and output fields

You can assign static values to input and output fields instead of mapping them to other fields.

In some cases, you might want to assign a static value to an input field instead of retrieving the value from a field in a record. Also, you might want to assign a static value as the output instead of retrieving from the data provider output fields. For example, if you want to translate the product description in a product record from English to French, you can assign English as the input value for the Language data provider field. You can also assign French as the output value for the Language business entity field.

MDM SaaS doesn't downgrade the trust scores of fields with static values. Only the trust scores of business entity fields that are mapped as input fields are downgraded. If you assign a static value to an input field and the field fails validation, the trust score of the input field isn't downgraded even if the plugin response contains a downgraded trust score for the input field. If the plugin response contains only system fields that failed validation or fields with static values, the rule association is marked with the Exception status.

Assigning static values to field groups

When you map input and output fields in a rule association, you can assign static values to the fields in a field group.

When you assign static values to the fields in a field group, you need to map at least one field from the source field group to a field in the target field group. You can’t assign static values to all fields in a field group. For example, you map the Address field group with the City and Country fields to the Address field group of the data provider. You can assign the static value US to the Country field, but you need to map the City field from the business entity field group to the City field of the data provider.

The following image shows invalid assignments of static values to fields in a field group:

The invalid field mappings show that the static values New York and US are assigned to both the City and Country fields in the target Address field group.

The following image shows a valid assignment of a static value to a field in a field group:

The valid field mappings show that the static value US is assigned to the Country field in the target Address field group. The mappings also show that the City field from the source Address field group is mapped to the City field in the target field group.

When you assign static values to the fields in a nested field group, map at least one field from the source nested field group to a field in the target nested field group.

The following image shows an invalid assignment of static values in nested field groups:

The invalid field mappings show that the static values hr@acme.com and Work are assigned to both the Electronic Address and Type fields in the nested Email field group. The mappings also show that 9000400001 and Work are assigned to the Phone Number and Type fields in the nested Phone field group.

The following image shows valid assignments of static values in nested field groups:

The valid field mappings show that the static value Work is assigned to the Type field in the nested Email field group, but the Electronic Address field is mapped to the Electronic Address source field. The mappings also show that the value Work is assigned to the Type field in the nested Phone field group, but the Phone Number field is mapped to the Phone Number source field.

Rules and guidelines for assigning static values

When you assign a static value to input and output fields, consider the following rules and guidelines:

•Don't assign static values to all input fields. To run a rule association when a record is created or updated, ensure that you map at least one business entity field as an input field.
•When you map output fields to relationship nodes for a classification requirement, you can't assign static values to the relationship nodes.
•When you assign a static value to a field, ensure that the value is compatible with the data type of the field.
•When you assign static values to the fields in a field group, ensure that you map at least one field from the source field group to a field in the target field group.
•When you assign static values to the fields in a nested field group, ensure that you map at least one field from the source nested field group to a field in the target nested field group.

Using system fields as input fields

You can use system fields, such as Business ID, Created By, and Last Updated By, as input fields for rule associations.

For example, you can prevent a user from updating a field in a record based on the created date of the record.

If an objective is configured to trigger when the field focus changes or a user applies changes to a section during record creation, you can use only the following system fields as input fields:

•Created By
•Created On
•Last Updated By
•Last Updated Date

You can use all system fields as input fields for record update scenarios. If you use only the system fields as input fields in a rule association that validates records, records don't display error messages when they fail validation.

When you use system fields as input fields in a rule association for validation and cleansing, use at least one business entity field as an input field. Rule associations for validation and cleansing aren’t triggered based on only system field changes. However, when you configure a rule association for enrichment, you can choose to use only system fields as input fields without using any business entity fields.

When an objective is triggered on a master record, all mapped system fields of all source records associated with that master record are included in the payload sent to a plugin. For example, if you map the source system field in a rule association, the source system fields from all source records are included in the payload when the rule association runs on a master record. However, if an objective runs on a source record, only the mapped system fields of that source record are included in the payload.

MDM SaaS doesn't downgrade the trust scores of system fields. Only the trust scores of business entity fields mapped as input fields are downgraded. If you map system fields as input fields and their values fail validation, the trust scores of the system fields aren't downgraded even if the plugin response contains downgraded trust scores for the system fields. If the plugin response contains only system fields that failed validation or fields with static values, the rule association is marked with the Exception status.

Guidelines for mapping fields

When you configure rule associations for data enrichment in Business 360 Console, consider the following guidelines to map input and output fields:

•When you map input fields, map all required fields from data providers.
•When you map output fields, map all required business entity fields or relationships in a hierarchy model.
•To enrich the existing entries of a field group, ensure that you map the field group as one of the input fields. For example, if you want to enrich the existing Phone field group entries, you must map the Phone field group as an input field.
•When you map input fields, map the compatible business entity fields to the data provider fields.

The following table lists the compatible data types of business entity fields:

Data types of business entity fields	Data types of data provider fields	Sample Values
Boolean	Boolean, Text	true, false, "true", "false"
Business Entity Record	Text
Integer	Integer, Double, Decimal, Numeric, Text	123, "123"
Double	Double, Numeric, Text	123.45, "123.45"
Decimal	Decimal, Numeric, Text	123.45, "123.45"
Date	Date, Calendar, Text	"2025-10-15"
Date and time	Date and time, Calendar, Text	"1672531200000"
Text	Text	"John Doe"
Picklist	Text	"US"

•When you map output fields, map the compatible data provider fields to the business entity fields.

The following table lists the compatible data types of data provider fields:

Data types of data provider fields	Data types of business entity fields	Sample values
Boolean	Boolean, Text	true, false, "true", "false"
Text	Business Entity Record	"MDM00000000000" Note: If you map a plugin output field to a business entity field, ensure that the plugin returns a valid business ID of a record. If the plugin returns an invalid business ID, the rule association is marked with the Exception status.
Calendar	Date, Date and time	2025-10-15, 1672531200000
Integer	Integer, Double, Decimal, Text	123, "123"
Decimal	Decimal, Text	123.45, "123.45"
Double	Double, Text	123.45, "123.45"
Date	Date, Text	"2025-10-15"
Date and time	Date and time, Text	"1672531200000"
Numeric	Integer, Double, Decimal	123, 123.45
Text	Text, Picklist, Boolean, Integer, Double, Decimal, Date, Date and Time	"John Doe", "US", "123", "123.45", "true", "false", "2025-10-15", "1672531200000"

•If you map a text field from a data provider to a non-text field in a business entity, ensure that the text field contains valid data. For example, you map the text field Amount to the decimal field Amount in a business entity. Ensure that the text field from the data provider contains valid data, such as "500.00", and not invalid data, such as "five hundred."
•If you map a text field to a picklist in a business entity, ensure that the text field contains a valid picklist code value.
•If you set source records as the input record type for an objective, don't use the Record State system field as an input field in a rule association. The Record State system field is available only for master records.
•When you configure a rule association for validation, ensure that you map at least one business entity field as an input field. If you map only system fields and assign static values without mapping a business entity field and those fields fail validation, records don't display validation messages.