Rules in Informatica Analyst Overview
A rule is business logic that defines conditions applied to source data when you run a profile. You can add a rule to the profile to cleanse, change, or validate data.
You may want to use a rule in different circumstances. You can add a rule to cleanse one or more data columns. You can add a lookup rule that provides information that the source data does not provide. You can add a rule to validate a cleansing rule for a data quality or data integration project.
You can add a rule before or after you run a profile. When you add a rule to a profile, you can create a rule or you can apply a rule. You can create or apply the following rule types for a profile:
- •Expression rules. Use expression functions and columns to define rule logic. Create expression rules in the Analyst tool. An analyst can create an expression rule and promote it to a reusable rule that other analysts can use in multiple profiles.
- •Predefined rules. Includes reusable rules that a developer creates in the Developer tool. Rules that a developer creates in the Developer tool as mapplets can appear in the Analyst tool as reusable rules.
After you add a rule to a profile, you can run the profile again for the rule column. The Analyst tool displays profile results for the rule column. You can modify the rule and run the profile again to view changes to the profile results. The output of a rule can be one or more virtual columns. The virtual columns exist in the profile results. The Analyst tool profiles the virtual columns. For example, you use a predefined rule that splits a column that contains first and last names into FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME virtual columns. The Analyst tool profiles the FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME columns.
Note: If you delete a rule object that other object types reference, the Analyst tool displays a message that lists those object types. Determine the impact of deleting the rule before you delete it.