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Categories of Joins in Siebel Marketing

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There are three categories of joins in Siebel Marketing:

Table joins. Most joins are table joins.
Start point joins. Used by the Marketing Server to perform queries.
Attribute joins. Created automatically by the Marketing Server during data retrieval.

To create a join, see To create a new join between two tables.

Using Table Joins

Table joins define the relationships among the tables in selected data sources and are created by the Marketing Administrator in the Marketing Administration screen. For more information, see Joining Tables and Fields.

Using Start Point Joins

To extract data from the target data source, the Marketing Server needs to know the tables that are the starting points from which it will get to other tables. In a start point join, the parent table is null and the child table is flagged as a candidate to be the first table to start joining during a snapshot build or data synchronization. The application server needs at least one start point in the system. Typically every table that has a field enabled for data retrieval or has a field used as a base field in an attribute family should have a start point defined on it. This is a table that is usually needed for a campaign snapshot build (example: master customer table)

During a snapshot or data retrieval task, the Marketing Server may perform several separate queries accessing different groups of tables. During a query, if the Marketing Server cannot find a starting point, the table join might be ignored.

To extract data most efficiently, the Marketing Server uses the start points with the other joins to determine the paths required to retrieve data using the least effort. It checks every possible join path and its cost (weight) to select the best start point. For more information about the Cost parameter, see Using the Cost Parameter (Advanced).

Not every table is an appropriate starting point. The following are the basic guidelines for defining start points:

If the table is always included in every query, a starting point should be created for that table. For example, the table containing Customer IDs might be the logical parent for other tables involved in the query, such as products owned, service requests, orders, and activity information.
If you have defined any attribute families from a table, you should provide a start point for that table.

CAUTION:  Do not associate a customer hierarchy with a start point join using the Customer Hierarchy field of the join. If you do, you will receive an error (No STARTPOINT specified on TABLE xxxxx) during data synchronization.

To create a start point join, see To create a new join between two tables.

Using Attribute Joins

Attribute joins are created automatically by the Marketing Server during data retrieval used to create an attribute family. When the Marketing Server retrieves an attribute family, a system table is created in the Marketing Repository to hold the data values for each field in the family. As part of this process, the Marketing Server also creates the necessary join between this new attribute table and the existing tables. This new join is an Attribute Join.

The child table name of an attribute join contains the prefix Siebel.ATR. The fields in an attribute join record are read only, except for the join's Type field. You may change the join type and subsequent data retrieval will be based on the join type. For example, if the inner join should be changed to an outer join, you can make that change in the attribute join record.

NOTE:  Attribute synchronization (data retrieval) never uses joins defined with customer hierarchies. For more information, see Retrieving Attribute Data.

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