Tasks > Masking tasks > Consistent masked output
  

Consistent masked output

You might want to use different tools to mask the source data.
You can use the following tools to generate the same masked output from the same source data:

Rules and guidelines

Consider the following rules and guidelines before you run mappings, tasks, or workflows to generate consistent masked output:
Substitution masking rules use values from dictionaries to create masked output. The default dictionaries on Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services and on-premise Test Data Management are the same. When you use the same substitution rule, the workflow uses the same dictionary to substitute source data. The same seed value therefore ensures that the same substitute value is used for all rows provided the dictionaries are the same.
On Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services, the dictionary files are available at: <Secure Agent installation directory>\apps\Data_Integration_Server\data
In on-premise Test Data Management, the dictionary files are available at: <Informatica installation directory>\server\infa_shared\LkpFiles
The Repeatable option must be set to ON to ensure that the task or workflow repeats dictionary values for the same source value.

Example

Consider the following example:
The source data contains First Name and Last Name columns that you need to mask to ensure that you mask the full name in the target data.
You can use the following methods to generate the masked output:
Perform the following high-level tasks to generate the masked output:
  1. 1Use the Substitution Name masking rule to mask the First Name column. Set the Repeatable option to ON. Enter a seed value.
  2. 2Use the Substitution Last Name masking rule to mask the Last Name column. Set the Repeatable option to ON. Enter a seed value.
  3. 3Use the default dictionaries available with the setup. Do not make changes to the dictionaries.
When you run the masking task, mapping, or mapping task on Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services, Test Data Management workflow, or PowerCenter mapping to generate output, you generate the same masked output for the same source data.