Bookshelf v7.5: Docking Visibility and Dock Objects

Docking Visibility and Dock Objects

To access server data, you must be either a connected or a mobile user. A connected user views data from the server database through a local or wide area network. A mobile user downloads database records to a laptop through the synchronization process. The previously described visibility rules apply to both connected and mobile users. However, for mobile users, an additional category of restrictions, called Docking or Routing Visibility, is placed on user access to records.

NOTE: Routing restrictions on data access apply in addition to visibility restrictions.

The docking visibility rules determine which records from the server database are delivered to each mobile user. Docking visibility rules can be viewed but not edited in Siebel Tools (except by Siebel Expert Services and even then, only in specific situations). Although you cannot change these hard-coded visibility rules, in some situations you can add docking rules. Sometimes you may have to identify and interpret docking rules, as in the following situations:

When investigating the relationships and rules to determine which records will be routed to the mobile user either during design or troubleshooting problems.

When deciding whether to use a particular table in the Siebel data model for a nonstandard purpose. In this case, it is critical that the table's intended use is consistent with its docking visibility rules.

NOTE: Docking rules are often known as synchronization or routing rules.

For detailed information on routing, you can use Siebel Tools to examine the properties of the Dock Object object type and its child object types. Each Dock Object has many Dock Object Tables and Dock Object Visibility Rule object definitions.

The Visibility Level property in a Dock object specifies at a high level whether all records will be transferred for the corresponding set of tables, or only a limited set that corresponds to combinations of Personal, Sales Team and Manager visibility. Three Visibility Level property settings are possible:

Enterprise. No restriction on the transfer of records. An example of this Visibility Level property setting is External Product.

Private. Used exclusively for routing of nonconfigurable data. This setting makes sure that the rows in these dock objects are never routed to any mobile clients and remain Private on the server.

Limited. Specifies a distribution of records that, depending on the dock object and user logon ID, correspond to some combination of Personal, Sales Team, and Manager visibility. Party, which merged Account, Organization, Contact, and Employee dock objects from the previous release, is an example of this type of setting.