Integration Platform Technologies: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration > Creating and Maintaining Integration Objects >

About Synchronizing Integration Objects

Business objects often require updates to their definitions to account for changes in data type, length, edit format, or other properties. It is common to want to alter database metadata, but if you do so you have to also update your integration objects to account for these updates. Otherwise, you can cause undesirable effects on your integration projects.

Some examples of these changes are:

• A field removed
• A new required field
• A new picklist for a field
• A change of relationship from one-to-many to many-to-many
• An upgrade to a new version of Siebel Business Applications

To help simplify the synchronization task, Siebel EAI provides the Integration Object Synchronize wizard. Although the process of synchronizing your integration object with its underlying business object is straightforward, review the integration objects you have modified to make sure that you have not inadvertently altered them by performing a synchronization. After synchronization, validate your integration object.

NOTE:  If business object changes are minor, such as adding a new single-value field, then it is best to synchronize the integration object. However, if business object changes are extensive, such as creating a new multivalue group, it might be better to delete and re-create the integration object.

The following topics are also covered in this section:

• Synchronization Rules
• Updating the Entire Integration Object
• Deleting a Component from the Integration Object
• Best Practices for Maintaining Integration Objects