Bookshelf v7.5: Creating Data Objects

Creating Data Objects

The Siebel Data Model consists of over 2,000 database tables. Each of these tables follows a standard naming convention to help users identify individual tables. For information on naming conventions for tables, see Siebel Data Model Reference.

The standard user interface does not use all the relationships available in the underlying data model; however, most entity relationships are available for developers to use. During the discovery phase of an implementation, you should carefully analyze the business requirements and thoroughly research how to meet these requirements using the existing data model and standard objects.

There is a misconception that if a relationship is not defined in the data model and has not been created in the Business Objects layer, a custom relationship must be created with a custom foreign key. This is not always necessary and is discouraged for these reasons:

When planning or implementing Mobile Web Client users, be aware that downloading data to the local database is governed by Dock Object Visibility rules. (For more information, see Visibility.) These rules use the standard relationships to determine which tables' data are routed to the mobile user's local database.

Thus, when new relationships are created, there are no Dock Object Visibility rules that allow relevant data to be downloaded to the local database. This may cause users to not be able to see their data.

To resolve this, you can use a Docking Wizard feature to create custom docking rules for custom foreign keys. However, you may encounter some performance concerns if you do not analyze the results of the functionality implemented by the Docking Wizard before you implement a new Dock Object Visibility rule or object. Primarily, the performance of your remote processes (such as the Transaction Processor and Router) may be affected.

In addition, by adding a rule you may be inadvertently adding a significant number of database records to remote users, which could affect initialization and synchronization times. An increased number of records in the remote database may also impact the mobile user application's performance.

If you are using Enterprise Integration Manager (EIM) to populate data in Siebel base tables, you can follow this process:

Add the custom FK extension column.

Add a corresponding column to the EIM table that populates the table with the custom foreign key.

Map them together.

Note, however, that EIM treats the foreign key extension column as a Varchar(15) column instead of a true foreign key. EIM does not maintain referential integrity so resolving the foreign key is a manual process.

Changing the user key is not supported because it involves extensive changes to EIM mappings and continuous maintenance through upgrades. It also breaks the EIM process.

You can add custom indexes to include extension columns for increasing performance; however, contact Siebel Expert Services to make sure these indexes do not inadvertently degrade performance.

NOTE: Wherever possible, use the standard relationships available within the Siebel data model. This helps minimize any remote visibility and EIM issues.