PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1 PeopleBook: Resource Finder

Setting Up Data Sources

This chapter provides an overview of PeopleSoft Portal Resource Finder data sources and discusses how to:

Define data sources.
Define participant data maps.

Understanding Data Sources

The majority of data in Resource Finder is loaded from external data sources, such as your human resources, customer relationship management, and document management systems. After participants and their attribute data are loaded into the repository, authorized users can use Resource Finder tools to manipulate and update the data.

These external data sources need to be defined in Resource Finder so that they can communicate with the application by providing data feeds using incremental batch and real-time updates. All Resource Finder participant and attribute values have associated data sources indicating the source from which they originated. When data is manually created or changed in Resource Finder, its data source is set to Local. PeopleSoft Portal Resource Finder delivers Local as a predefined data source. Oracle recommends that you not alter this Local data source, which is programmatically referenced by its associated constant, EPX_BASE::Constants.LOCAL_CONST. This Local data source enables you to establish conflict rankings for manual changes as opposed to changes originating from external data sources.

See Defining Data Sources.

Resource Finder includes administrative pages that you use to uniquely identify participants in each external data source. Using these pages, you create an external representation of a participant that can be accurately mapped to the Resource Finder representation of that same participant.

Unless the field names of an external data source are the same as the corresponding attribute names in Resource Finder, you must also use the administrative pages to map the external field names to Resource Finder attribute names.

See Configuring Participant Data Maps.

If you know that data for an individual participant can be provided by multiple external data sources, you can use mapping definitions to create associations between identifying key field values in one data source to identifying key field values in another. For example, this mapping can associate EMPL_ID 12345 from data source X to CUST_ID 12345 in data source Y. The identifying key field value must be the same in all external data sources.

The mapping of key fields between data sources serves two purposes:

Synchronizing similar data elements originating from two different data sources (same participant, same attributes).
Synchronizing related data elements originating from two different data sources (same participant, different attributes).

If you have more than one data source providing the same participant attribute data, you can rank the data sources, providing Resource Finder with a hierarchy it can use to determine which source it should use to derive the value.

These external data source feeds interact with Resource Finder using the messaging Application Programming Interface (API). You must write logic to transform the native message format of the external data source to the native message format of Resource Finder.

See Importing Participant Data.

Configuring Data Sources

This section discusses how to use the Data Sources component (EPX_DEF_DATASRC) to:

Define data sources and the participant types for which they supply data.
Specify data source keys.
Specify keys across data sources.

Pages Used to Configure Data Sources

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Define Data Sources - Specify Participant Types	EPX_DDS_PTYPES	Portal Administration, Resource Finder, Mappings, Data Sources	Define external data sources for Resource Finder, as well as the participant types for which they supply data. You identify these external data sources to ensure that only valid data sources are available for selection when mapping Resource Finder data to external data source applications.
Define Data Sources - Specify Data Source Keys	EPX_DDS_KEYS	Portal Administration, Resource Finder, Mappings, Data Sources Click the Specify Data Source Keys link on the Define Data Sources - Specify Participant Types page.	Define key fields that identify participant types in the selected data source. The values of these fields uniquely identify a participant associated with the selected participant type when loaded from the specified data source. The Configure File Import Application Engine process (EPX_FILE_IMP) uses these key values to determine whether it is importing new participant data or updated data for an existing participant. Perform this setup for all data sources that supply data for the participant type.
Define Data Sources - Map Keys Between Data Sources	EPX_DDS_KEY_MAPS	Portal Administration, Resource Finder, Mappings, Data Sources Click the Specify Data Source Keys link on the Define Data Sources - Specify Participant Types page. Click the Map Keys Between Data Sources link on the Define Data Sources - Specify Data Source Keys page.	Map the selected participant type key field to other key fields defined for other data sources that provide attribute data for the participant type. Use this page if you have participant type data for the same participant being imported from different data sources and you need to ensure that the system does not create multiple sets of data based solely on the existence of multiple data sources.

Defining Data Sources

Access the Define Data Sources - Specify Participant Types page (select Portal Administration, Resource Finder, Mappings, Data Sources, Define Data Sources).

Data Source Name

Enter a data source name.

Available values include valid data sources defined in the PeopleSoft Integration Broker.

Note. You must configure the data source in the PeopleSoft Integration Broker before you enter the data source on this page.

See Importing Participant Data.

You cannot delete a data source after it has been defined in Resource Finder tables. Doing so may result in data inconsistencies.

After you have defined and approved your data sources, they can be associated with participants and their attributes using the mapping interface pages.

Display Label

Enter a label for the data source that appears along with the data source wherever it is referenced.

Active

Select to indicate that the data source is active. Only active data sources are used to populate Resource Finder when you run the File Import process.

Deselect this option to inactivate the data source and remove it from all display contexts in which it is referenced.

Long Description

Enter a description of the data source.

This text is informational only and does not appear elsewhere in the system.

Conflict Ranking

Enter a default conflict ranking for all attributes associated with the data source.

This default conflict ranking can be overridden for attributes at the participant data mapping level.

See Configuring Participant Data Maps.

This value also serves as the conflict ranking for non-attribute participant data. For example, this value serves as the conflict ranking for the participant name, which is not an attribute, but rather a fixed property of all participants. You can use this conflict ranking to determine that the participant name loaded from your Customer Relationship Management system outweighs the participant name loaded from your PeopleSoft Human Capital Management system.

The LOCAL data source defined in system data gets its conflict ranking value here. If you don't want changes that are made manually using the Resource Finder interface to be overwritten by data imports, set the conflict ranking for the LOCAL data source higher than other data sources.

Participant Type Association

Participant Type ID	Select the participant types for which the data source provides information.
Specify Data Source Keys	Click to access the Define Data Sources - Specify Data Source Keys page.

Specifying Data Source Keys

Access the Define Data Sources - Specify Data Source Keys page (select Portal Administration, Resource Finder, Mappings, Data Sources; click the Specify Data Source Keys link on the Define Data Sources - Specify Participant Types page).

Data Source Name

Displays the data source for which you are defining key fields for the indicated participant type.

Participant Type

Participant Type ID

Displays the participant type for which you are defining key fields for the indicated data source.

Source Keys

Key Field Name

Enter the key field name that uniquely identifies a participant in the selected data source.

This value must match the value of the field-name attribute of the external-field-mapping element. The File Import process uses the values of these keys to determine whether it is receiving new participant data or updated data for an existing participant.

For example, if you have specified a key field name of EMPLID for the employee participant type from the WORKFORCE_SYNC data source, an incoming data source message contains an EMPLID of 11128 and an EMPLID 11128 exists in Resource Finder, the load process identifies the participant data as an update to an existing participant. If the EMPLID 11128 does not exist, the load process identifies the data as a new participant.

Map Keys Between Data Sources

Click to access the Define Data Sources - Map Keys Between Data Sources page.

Specifying Keys Across Data Sources

Access the Define Data Sources - Map Keys Between Data Sources page (select Portal Administration, Resource Finder, Mappings, Data Sources; click the Specify Data Source Keys link; and click the Map Keys Between Data Sources link on the Define Data Sources - Specify Data Source Keys page).

Use this page if you have participant type data for the same participant being imported from different data sources and you need to ensure that the system does not create multiple sets of data solely based on the existence of multiple data sources.

For example, if the key field name MANAGER_ID has a value of 11128 from DEPT_SYNC and the key field name SUPERVISOR_ID has a value of 11128 from WORKFORCE_SYNC, use this page to create this mapping so that the system knows both instances of 11128 are the same participant, even if the key field names and data sources are different. The mapping tells the system that MANAGER_ID from DEPT_SYNC = SUPERVISOR_ID from WORKFORCE_SYNC.

Even if you have the same key field names being loaded by different sources, you must use this page to draw the connection between them. When you enter the keys for one relationship, the system builds out reciprocal information. For example, creating a DEPT_SYNC.MANAGER_ID = WORKFORCE_SYNC.SUPERVISOR_ID relationship creates the WORKFORCE_SYNC.SUPERVISOR_ID = DEPT_SYNC.MANAGER_ID relationship.

You can select only defined data sources and participant key field names that have been associated with the participant type on the Define Participant Type page.

Data Source Name

Displays the data source for which you are defining additional key fields and data sources for the indicated participant type.

Participant Type

Participant Type ID	Displays the participant type for which you are defining key fields from additional data sources.
Key Field Name	Displays the participant type key field for the indicated data source that you are mapping to a key field in an additional data source.

Additional Source/Key Mapping

Additional Data Source

Select an additional data source for the indicated participant type and associated key field.

You can select only data sources that have been associated with the selected participant type on the Define Data Sources - Specify Participant Types page.

Key Field Name

Select a key field from the additional data source that you want to map to the indicated key field, participant type, and data source combination.

The key field names for the additional data source and participant type must have already been defined as key field names and data sources for the participant type on the Define Data Sources - Specify Data Source Keys page.

Configuring Participant Data Maps

This section discusses how to configure participant data maps using the Participant Mappings component (EPX_DEF_PARTMAP).

Defining Participant Data Maps

Access the Define Participant Map page (EPX_DPM_MAIN) (select Portal Administration, Resource Finder, Mappings, Participant Mappings).

Use the Define Participant Map page to specify the mappings between an external data source and Resource Finder repository participant type attributes, and map data sources and source field names to participant attributes in Resource Finder.

Participant Type ID

Enter a participant type for which you want to map associated attributes to data sources and source field names.

A participant type can have only one participant map definition.

Source to EPR Mapping

Data Source Name	Select a data source. You can select only data sources that have been associated with the selected participant type on the Define Data Sources - Specify Participant Types page.
Ranking	If you want to map multiple data source fields to a single participant attribute, you must enter rankings for the data source fields. Use natural numeric progression to designate rank—the higher number is the higher-ranked item. For example, enter a value of 1 to designate the lowest-ranked data source field. The system uses the highest-ranked value present as the value for the participant attribute. For example, you can configure the participant data map to look at multiple data sources to provide the participant's email address. If the email address is present in the source field designated for the highest-ranked data source, the system uses it. If the email address is not present, the system looks to the next highest-ranked data source in the hierarchy to derive the value, and so forth, until it finds a value.
Source Field	Enter the XML tag for the source field published by the data source that corresponds to the attribute you are mapping.
Attribute ID	Select the attribute that you want to map to the source field. You can select any active attribute for the participant type you are mapping. To add or remove attributes for this participant type, access the Define Participant Type page. See Configuring Participant Types.

Using Ranking to Resolve Data Conflicts

You can use the Ranking field on the Define Participant Map page to establish an order of precedence that can help resolve potential data conflicts involving data loaded from multiple data sources. Defining rankings can also help Resource Finder handle situations in which information can be stored in several data sources, but it is not clear which source will always provide the information.

Consider the following example in which you have three systems that serve as data sources for Tobias's name attribute. Having three data sources for the name attribute helps increase the chances that a name value for Tobias will be loaded into Resource Finder. However, notice that all three data sources store Tobias's name in a slightly different way.

Data Source	Key Identifier	Name
HR	EMPLID 2001	Tobias Larrson
eLearning	STUDENT ID 201	Toby Larrson
Lotus Notes	TLARRSON@PeopleSoft.com	T Larrson

In this case, you can use the Ranking field to create a precedence—or order—in which data from the three data sources is used by Resource Finder. If you define rankings as shown in the following table, you are stipulating that if HR can provide the Name value, Resource Finder uses that value before accepting the name value from eLearning and Lotus Notes, even if these systems can provide the data. However, if HR does not provide the value for this name entity, then eLearning or Lotus Notes could supply it.

Resource Finder Attribute ID	Data Source	Data Source Field	Ranking
DESCRIPTION	HR	NAME	1
	eLearning	NAME	2
	Lotus Notes	NAME	3

Data Source Name	Enter a data source name. Available values include valid data sources defined in the PeopleSoft Integration Broker. Note. You must configure the data source in the PeopleSoft Integration Broker before you enter the data source on this page. See Importing Participant Data. You cannot delete a data source after it has been defined in Resource Finder tables. Doing so may result in data inconsistencies. After you have defined and approved your data sources, they can be associated with participants and their attributes using the mapping interface pages.
Display Label	Enter a label for the data source that appears along with the data source wherever it is referenced.
Active	Select to indicate that the data source is active. Only active data sources are used to populate Resource Finder when you run the File Import process. Deselect this option to inactivate the data source and remove it from all display contexts in which it is referenced.
Long Description	Enter a description of the data source. This text is informational only and does not appear elsewhere in the system.
Conflict Ranking	Enter a default conflict ranking for all attributes associated with the data source. This default conflict ranking can be overridden for attributes at the participant data mapping level. See Configuring Participant Data Maps. This value also serves as the conflict ranking for non-attribute participant data. For example, this value serves as the conflict ranking for the participant name, which is not an attribute, but rather a fixed property of all participants. You can use this conflict ranking to determine that the participant name loaded from your Customer Relationship Management system outweighs the participant name loaded from your PeopleSoft Human Capital Management system. The LOCAL data source defined in system data gets its conflict ranking value here. If you don't want changes that are made manually using the Resource Finder interface to be overwritten by data imports, set the conflict ranking for the LOCAL data source higher than other data sources.