Linking Records - An Overview

In the hierarchical model, data are represented as a collection of records; and relationships between data are represented by the links. Linking records to the hierarchy provides a bird's-eye view of the relationships between repository and linked hierarchy. You need to manually link records to the hierarchy.

After the hierarchy is created, you can link it to the TIBCO MDM records to achieve the required business motive such as categorization or reporting. You can use one or more hierarchies to link records from one or more repositories.

The following are a few guidelines for linking records to a hierarchy:
  • Link records only to the leaf nodes of a hierarchy.
  • Link records to the hierarchy only when it is in the Published state.
    Note: Records remain linked to their respective nodes even if the hierarchy goes through any modifications and approval cycles (provided the modification does not impact the nodes to which the records are linked).
  • Link records from multiple repositories to the leaf nodes of the same hierarchy. Similarly, link records from one repository to the leaf nodes of different hierarchies.
    Note: Linking is not restricted to one repository.
  • Link records that are confirmed or golden copy records to hierarchies (leaf nodes). The records remain linked to their respective nodes in different hierarchies until the confirmed version of records exist in a repository. If a record is deleted or rejected and if the confirmed or golden copy version of a record does not exist, then the hierarchy linkage cleanup scheduler job cleans such links from the hierarchy nodes. For more information on the scheduler job, see TIBCO MDM System Administration.

The Hierarchy Link Approval (wfin26hierarchylinkapprovalv1.xml) workflow is available for approvals and sending notification changes of linking records.

For information on the hierarchy workflow activities, see TIBCO MDM Workflow Reference.

For hierarchy management, some new business process rules and associated workflows are added. For migrating workflows and adding new rules in the existing enterprise, see the "Upgrade to TIBCO MDM" chapter in TIBCO MDM Installation and Configuration Guide.