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Determining If You Can Reuse a Predefined Business Component Field

This task is a step in Process of Determining If You Can Reuse a Predefined Object.

This topic describes the factors you must evaluate when you consider reusing a predefined business component field. Reusing a field if a good technical or functional fit does not exist can lead to a poor result. In this situation, it is better to create a new, custom field. For more information, see Process of Determining If You Can Reuse a Predefined Object.

To determine if you can reuse a predefined business component field

1. Examine the Primary ID Field.

   In some situations, you can configure the Primary ID Field for a multi-value link to improve performance. For more information, see About the Primary ID Field.

   For a custom multi-value link, you must attempt to reuse an unused column or the Primary ID Field before you create a new custom extension column:

   1. Make sure the Foreign Key Table property of the unused column references the table of the business component of the multi-value link.
   2. Make sure the Primary Child Col property is TRUE.
   3. Make sure the Primary Child Table, Primary Child Join Column, and Primary Join Column Name properties are set with an appropriate value.

      For a many-to-many relationship, the Primary Inter Table Name must reference the intersection table. You cannot set these values for a base table column that is predefined. You must make sure that the unused field or column is the appropriate Primary ID Field.

   4. If you cannot locate an appropriate unused primary field or column, then you must verify that another multi-value link does not already use it.

      For more information, see Sharing a Primary for a Multi-Value Link.

   5. If you cannot find a suitable unused Primary ID Field or column, then you must extend the base table and create a custom field.

      Note that the EIM Table Mapping Wizard does not create an EIM explicit primary mapping object for a custom Primary ID Field. For more information, see Defining the Primary ID Field of a Multi-Value Link.

2. Make sure the field you use is not inactive.

   Do not reactivate a field that is currently inactive in a predefined Siebel application for the following reasons:

   • The field might be obsolete. Siebel CRM might delete it in a future release.
   • The field might be part of future functionality that Siebel CRM has not yet implemented.
3. Make sure a specialized business component does not reference the field.

   You can use a field on a specialized business component only for the purpose that Siebel CRM intends to use this field. An unintended use of this field might affect specialized behavior. For more information, see Caution About Using Specialized Classes.

4. Use a user key field.

   For more information, see Step 8.

Examples of Reusing a Business Component Field or Table Column

The following are examples of how you might reuse a business component field or a table column:

• Use the Last Name or First Name field of the Contact business component to store the name of a contact.
• On the Account business component, instead of creating a custom extension column for a new field to store an email address, use the EMAIL_ADDR column of the S_ORG_EXT table.
• On the Order Entry business component, use the Revision field to store the revision number. Specialized behavior controls this field. For more information, see Caution About Using Specialized Classes.
• On the Campaign business component, use the Route Prospects field to store information that describes the campaign contacts that Siebel CRM routes to the Remote client. If you store other information, then Siebel Remote performance might be compromised.
• Use the WEIGHT column on the S_CONTACT table to store the weight of the contact. Do not use it to store information that is not related to the weight of the contact.

The Comment property of a column often describes the intended purpose of the column. Use comments to help you decide when to reuse a column.

Sharing a Primary for a Multi-Value Link

It is recommended that you do not share a primary for a multi-value link that returns different result sets because it can corrupt the primary. For example, assume two multi-value links reference business components that reference the same table but use different search specifications. Sharing the Primary ID Field for the two multi-value links causes Siebel CRM to set the Primary ID Field to the value of No Match Row Id because the value of the Primary ID Field might reference a record that one of the multi-value links does not return. For more information, see Options to Filter Data That Siebel CRM Displays In an Applet.