This chapter provides an overview of the updates made to the software and documentation for release 11.1.1.6.0 of the Flat File connector.
The updates discussed in this chapter are divided into the following categories:
This section describes updates made to the connector software. This section also points out the sections of this guide that have been changed in response to each software update.
Documentation-Specific Updates
These include major changes made to this guide. For example, the relocation of a section from the second chapter to the third chapter is a documentation-specific update. These changes are not related to software updates.
The following sections discuss the software updates:
The metadata generation utility has been revamped in this release. Some of the changes include providing support for disconnected resources, tagging of entitlements, prepopulating all process form fields and so on. The following sections explain each of these software updates in detail:
In the earlier release, the metadata generation utility did not generate Oracle Identity Manager artifacts for disconnected resources. Disconnected resources and mappings between fields in Oracle Identity Manager and corresponding target system attributes had to be manually created.
From this release onward, the metadata generation utility generates all artifacts associated with disconnected resources. In addition, it generates process definitions associated with the default SOA composites that are required for performing manual provisioning.
In the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy file, a predefined section named "disconnected" has been added to configure your flat file as a disconnected resource. See Understanding Entries in the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy File for more information about the entries corresponding to the "disconnected" section.
In the earlier release, if you had configured your flat file as a trusted source, then by default, this connector supported and created mapping for only four fields on the OIM User process form. For all other fields, the corresponding Oracle Identity Manager artifacts for each target system attribute had to be manually created and mapped.
From this release onward, the metadata generation utility generates Oracle Identity Manager artifacts and creates mappings for all target system attributes. Default values for Oracle Identity Manager-specific attributes such as Organization, User Type, and Employee Type are generated too.
In the earlier release, entitlement tagging was a manual process. In other words, process form fields to be set up as entitlements had to be manually associated with the corresponding lookup definitions, set the entitlement property to true, and then run the Entitlement List and Catalog Synchronization Job scheduled jobs to harvest entitlements and synchronize with the catalog.
From this release onward, the process of entitlement tagging is automated. This is achieved by the addition of the entitlementAttributeList entry to the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy file. Any target system attribute that is listed in the entitlementAttributeList entry is automatically handled as an entitlement. For every attribute listed in the entitlementAttributeList entry, the metadata generator utility creates lookup definitions automatically, assigns them to a process form, and then adds all the required entitlement properties. Entitlements are available in the catalog after the Entitlement Loader scheduled job is run.
See Understanding Entries in the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy File for more information about the entitlementAttributeList entry such as the format in which values must be specified.
From this release onward, this connector allows you to display any process form field holding a date value as a date picker. The dateAttributeList entry has been added to the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy file to handle process form fields as date. See Understanding Entries in the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy File for more information about this entry such as the format in which values must be specified.
In the earlier release, if you created the Flat File connector by using the metadata generation utility, then you had to manually create a copy of the scheduled jobs (for Users, Accounts, or Entitlements) that were shipped along with the ready to use Flat File Connector.
From this release onward, depending on the type of resource (trusted source, target resource, or disconnected resource), the metadata generation utility automatically generates the corresponding scheduled jobs. For example, if you are using the metadata generation utility and configured your flat file as a trusted resource, then the scheduled jobs such as IT_RES_NAME Flat File User Loaders, IT_RES_NAME Flat File Users Delete Diff Reconciliation, and IT_RES_NAME Flat File Users Delete Reconciliation are automatically generated.
See Reconciliation Scheduled Jobs for information about scheduled jobs that are created when you install the ready to use Flat File connector and a connector created by using the metadata generation utility.
In the earlier release, lookup fields in the process form were not automatically generated. You had to manually create the lookup field and flag it as a lookup.
From this release onward, this process has been automated. This is achieved by the addition of the lookupAttributeList entry to the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy file. For every attribute listed in this entry, the metadata generation utility creates a lookup field and associates it with the corresponding lookup fields on the OIM User process form.
See Understanding Entries in the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy File for more information about the lookupAttributeList entry such as the format in which values must be specified.
In the earlier release, if you created the connector by using the metadata generation utility, then you had to manually create the application instance, sandbox, and UI forms.
From this release onward, except for the UI form, the metadata generation utility generates the application instance and other required details. You have to manually create the UI form as there are no corresponding APIs in Oracle Identity Manager that automate UI form creation.
In the earlier release, by default, the connector was configured to let Oracle Identity Manager prepopulate only four process form fields during a provisioning operation. To prepopulate the remaining process form fields, you had to manually attach the prepopulate adapter to the field.
From this release onward, you can configure the connector to prepopulate all process form fields. By default, the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy file is configured to prepopulate the User Login, First Name, Last Name, and Password fields. If you want to prepopulate more fields, then you must specify the field names in the prepopulate entry of the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy file.
See Understanding Entries in the FlatFileConfiguration.groovy File for more information about the prepopulate entry such as the format in which values must be specified.
The following section discusses the documentation-specific updates:
The following is a documentation-specific update in revision "9" of this guide:
A Note about the transformation jar has been added to Configuring Transformation of Data During Reconciliation.
The following is a documentation-specific update in revision "8" of this guide:
Understanding Account Qualifiers has been updated to include a new account qualifier named "defaultEnableStatus".
The following is a documentation-specific update in revision "7" of this guide:
The "Oracle Identity Manager" row in Certified Components has been renamed to "Oracle Identity Governance or Oracle Identity Manager" and also updated for Oracle Identity Governance 12c PS3 (12.2.1.3.0) certification.
The following is a documentation-specific update in revision "6" of this guide:
The "JDK" row has been added to Table 1-1.
The following is a documentation-specific update in revision "5" of this guide:
The "Oracle Identity Manager" row of Table 1-1 has been updated.
The following is a documentation-specific update in revision "4" of this guide:
A "Note" regarding lookup queries has been added at the beginning of Extending the Functionality of the Connector.
The following are documentation-specific updates in revision "3" of this guide:
Information regarding configuring generated components has been removed from the "Summary of Steps to Generate the Connector Components" section. You no longer need to configure generated components as they are internally handled by the connector from now onward.
Section 2.3.1.8, "Configuring the Generated Connector Components" has been removed as the configurations described in this section are internally handled by the connector from now onward.
Information regarding incremental reconciliation has been added to the "Account Qualifiers" section.
A note regarding loading date values from a flat file either as Long or String datatype has been added to the "Field Qualifiers" section.
Configuring the Connector for Incremental Reconciliation has been added.
Section 2.6, "Postcloning Steps" has been removed as the connector artifacts can be re-created by using the metadata generation utility, instead of cloning.
Configuring the IT Resource and Reconciliation Scheduled Jobs have been modified.
Information in Configuring Reconciliation has been rearranged.
Information specific to scheduled job attributes has been moved from Section 3.3.3, "Reconciliation Scheduled Jobs" to a new section named Attributes of the Scheduled Jobs.
Information regarding incremental reconciliation has been modified in Performing Full and Incremental Reconciliation.
Table E-1 has been modified.
The following appendixes have been modified:
The following is a documentation-specific update in revision "2" of this release:
Information about limited reconciliation has been modified in Limited Reconciliation.