Configuration Guide for Siebel Offline Client for Life Sciences > Overview of the Offline Client for Life Sciences >

Data Download Modes

There are three different download modes:

• Full download
• Object download
• Incremental download

Full Download Mode

This mode is selected by the Sync application in specific situations. During a full download, all data for the Offline Client for Life Sciences is downloaded, existing local databases are backed up, and the new local databases are built containing the modified data from the server.

The synchronization application uses this mode automatically if at least one of the following conditions is true:

• A new installation is present; that is, no local databases exist.
• Any of the following occurs:
  • The database schema changes.
  • The LOV seed data is different.
  • The datasources.xml file is different.
  • The filter definition file version is different, or if the data schema changes.
• There is an entry in the modification tracking table that signals a full download for a user. For example, after a mass update because of a territory realignment.

  In Siebel CRM, administrators can initiate a full download for a user by creating a new record in the modification tracking table as follows:

  • By navigating to the Administration - Modification Tracking screen in the Siebel application.
  • Clicking the Full Download button.
  • Entering the user information for the new record that is created.

NOTE:  The sequence of events during a full download is as follows: first the user is authenticated, then the picklist data is downloaded, followed by the object data, and finally the attachments.

Object Download Mode

This mode is set during the configuration. In an object download, all records for a specific object are downloaded. The object download is triggered either by one of the following:

• If the following entry occurs in the configuration file, datasources.xml, where the value o represents object download.

  syncType="o"

• The stale calculation in the synchronization application.

  NOTE:  The calculation is not published.

Incremental Download Mode

This mode is set during the configuration. An incremental download refreshes the records in the local database that were modified on the server only after the last successful download.

In Siebel CRM, the Object mapping table in the Siebel database records the mapping between Siebel tables and objects belonging to the Offline Client for Life Sciences. As changes are made in Siebel CRM, a modification tracking record is written to the Modification Tracking table to identify the type of object, the record ID, and type of change that occurred. If an object mapping exists and changes are written to the table, then incremental synchronization for that object can take place provided that the object is marked for incremental download.

During an incremental synchronization, the Sync application does the following:

• Downloads the modification records modified since the last synchronization.
• Evaluates the downloaded modification tracking entries to create a list of records to download for each filter definition file that is marked in the datasources.xml file for an incremental download (that is, syncType="i"). It also accounts for whether the objects can be considered stale.

  An object is stale if the time interval since the last successful download of a specific object exceeds the lifetime specified for that object in the datasources.xml file with the lifetime attribute:

  <ListOfEntitySyncRts>

     <SYS_EntitySyncRt id="Account" ... lifetime="72" ...>40</SYS_EntitySyncRt>

  </ListOfEntitySyncRts>

  In this example, Lifetime="72" means the Account object is considered stale if there has been no successful download of Account data for more than 72 hours.

  Objects that are stale are downloaded in object download mode, even if they are marked in the datasources.xml file for an incremental download.