Siebel Life Sciences Guide > Importing Data into Life Sciences > Process of Importing Data >

Stages of the Data Import Process

The data import process with Siebel EIM uses two stages, as shown in Figure 8.

1. The data is first copied from external data tapes (or other provided media) into the interface tables for the Siebel Industry Application (SIA), using a native database data-loading utility (such as SQL* Loader).

   For information about the interface tables and their relationships to base tables in the Siebel Business Application database, read Data and Related Interface Tables. For further details on Siebel Industry Application interface tables, such as the contents of each table, read Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager Administration Guide.

2. Using EIM, you transfer the data from the interface tables to predefined destination columns in the base tables of the Siebel Life Sciences database. The EIM process uses a configuration file (default.ifb).

   For general information about default.ifb and instructions on using Siebel EIM, read Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager Administration Guide.

Figure 8. Process Flow From an External Database to the SIA Database