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Persistent User Profile Attributes

The persistent user profile consists of persistent user profile attributes, both individual and organizational. These attributes are stored in the Siebel database.

Persistent profile attributes exist in the base tables or extension tables of the S_PARTY table. They can be either person-based or organization-based. They appear as fields in the Personalization Profile business component. They can also be present in any S_PARTY-based business component, but the Siebel Personalization Engine loads only those defined in the Personalization Profile business component. All organization-based attribute names start with an Org. prefix.

Basic information such as name and email address should be stored as persistent attributes. Your business needs will determine what other attributes are important to store from one session to another. In general, the most frequently used attributes are made part of the persistent profile.

Values for persistent attributes are loaded in the session when a user logs in. Persistent attributes are retrieved using GetProfileAttr(). For more information on GetProfileAttr(), see Profile Functions.

When persistent attributes are modified by a user and the session is updated, either directly or by the user's actions while logged in, the modified values are not saved to the database until the session is terminated. This is because the profile attributes are cached. Caching profile attributes allows access to them to be extremely fast when building pages, while providing persistence between sessions.

When persistent attributes are modified in an administration screen and saved, for example by a call center agent using the Profile view under the User Profile Preferences screen, the changes are saved to the database at that time.

NOTE:  GetProfileAttr only works for fields explicitly defined in the Personalization Profile business component. GetProfileAttr does not work with system fields, which are not explicitly defined in the business component; it returns a NULL value for them.

An exception is the Id system field. This particular system field is available to GetProfileAttr even though it is not in the Personalization Profile business component.


 Siebel Personalization Administration Guide 
 Published: 18 April 2003