2 EICS Data Seeding

This chapter contains the following:

• What is Data Seeding?

• Why Use Data Seeding?

• When To Run Data Seeding

• How BDI Data Seeding Functions

• EICS Data Seeding Preparation

• EICS BDI-Based Data Seeding

What is Data Seeding?

Using Oracle EICS Data Seeding, you can load data in bulk, including inventory and stock holding entities, from an external data source into Oracle EICS.

Data Seeding is most suitable for:

• Loading initial inventory holding data

• Loading large volumes of data

Typically, you use data seeding for an initial data seeding and maintain the data in Oracle EICS thereafter, or through near-real time data integration with external systems.

Business Objects for Data Seeding

The following table shows the business objects that can be seeded from external data source to EICS using BDI-Based Data Seeding. For the initial data seeding, data objects must be loaded the group order shown here to respect dependencies between objects.

Table 2-1 EICS Data Loading Dependencies

Group Order	Business Object	Dependency
1	Warehouse	None
	Warehouse Address	None
	Partner	None
	Partner Address	None
	Supplier	None
	Supplier Address	None
	Merchandise Hierarchy	None
2	Partner Org Unit	Partner
	Item Header	Supplier
	UDA (User Defined Attribute)	None
	Differentiator Group (N/A)	None
	Code Head	None
3	Pack Item	Item Header
	Related Item	Item Header
4	Item Supplier	Item Header, Supplier
	Item Supplier Country Dimension	Item Header, Supplier
	Item Supplier Country	Item Header, Supplier
	Item Supplier Manufacturing Country	Item Header, Supplier
	Item Supplier UOM	Item Header, Supplier
5	Store	None
	Store Address	None
6	Item Location	Store, Warehouse, Partner, Item
	Inventory Available Store	Store, Item
7	Replenishment Item Location)	Store, Item
	Price History (for Store/Item	Store, Item
8	Item Image	Item
	UOM Class	None
	UDA Item Date	UDA
	UDA Item Free Form	UDA
	UDA Item LOV	UDA
	UDA Values	UDA
9	Code Detail	Code Head
	Delivery Slot	None
	Differentiator	None
	UOM Conversion	UOM Class

Why Use Data Seeding?

When a full installation of the EICS application takes place there is no inventory data in ECIS tables. The initial inventory positions will need to be seeded from an external system. By default, EICS seeds its data from Oracle Retail Merchandise Cloud Service System as its out-of-box solution.

When To Run Data Seeding

EICS initial inventory data seeding is applicable for new or fresh full EICS installation, and should only be run once.

Once the initial set of data is seeded into ECIS, the subsequent inventory changes are communicated between sourcing/destination applications via Oracle Retail Integration Cloud Service.

How BDI Data Seeding Functions

EICS data seeding uses the Oracle Retail Bulk Data Integration (BDI) process to extract source data from external system and load the same data into Oracle EICS application tables.

The BDI data seeding process:

• An Extractor extracts data from external system into an outgoing intermediate integration interface table.

• A Downloader moves data from the intermediate table to an intermediate file.

• An Uploader moves the intermediate file to an incoming intermediate integration interface tables.

• An Importer imports the data from the interface tables into EICS application tables.

The following figure shows the key stages of the data seeding process using Oracle BDI-Based Data Seeding.

Figure 2-1 Data Seeding Process

EICS Data Seeding Preparation

This topic contains the following:

• EICS Data Seeding Security Settings

• EICS Data Seeding Configuration Parameters

EICS Data Seeding Security Settings

EICS System Ops user must be assigned to following EICS application security permissions:

Permission Name	Description
Access Batch Admin	Allows access to EICS batch job screen.
Access Data Seed	Allows EICS user to manually run data seeding importer jobs via EICS batch job admin.

EICS Data Seeding Configuration Parameters

The EICS Data Seeding Importer process in EICS loads data from the staged or intermediate tables into ECIS application tables. The configuration parameters determine how the importer process operates in EICS.

Because the full set of data should only be loaded once for foundation inventory data and store Inventory data, when EICS is initially installed, the data seeding system configuration flags are disabled.

The following table shows the configuration parameters and their default values.

Configuration Name	Description
Enable Seed Foundation	The foundation data can be used for initial bulk load of EICS foundation data (such as Supplier, Merchandise Hierarchy, Item and others) from external source during initial setup of ECIS system. This option should be disabled after EICS data seeding is completed.
Enable Seed Store Data	The seed store data can be used for initial bulk data load of EICS store inventory data (such as Store Item, and Store Item Stock) from an external data sourcing system.
Enable Seed By Store	Enables functionality for a single store. By default, all stores and inventory will be seeded when the seed by store option is turned off. To rollout a single store, enable this configuration allow only a single store's inventory data to be seeded.
Data Seed Chunk Limit	Controls the data seeding transaction size limit.
Data Seed On Error Continue	This flag determines how the error should be handled during data seeding import process. If the flag is turned on (true), the process will skip the current chunk of data, and continue to process next chunk of data. If the flag is turned off (false), the data loading process will be terminated when an error occurs.

To change configuration values:

1. Login to Oracle Enterprise Inventory Cloud Service page as ECIS System Ops user. Note that full details about the configuration screens can be found in the Configuration chapter of the Admin Guide.

2. On Main Menu, Select Admin/Configuration/System Administration.

3. Search for data seed in option field, change value and save the change.

4. When using the BDI-based data seeding:

   If you set seed data options to disabled, then once the BDI process flow process upload the data to the stage tables, EICS importer will skip loading step, no attempt is made to load the data to application tables. You run the load process separately. You can review the results of this process and correct any import errors before proceeding with data load to the application tables. This is the recommended approach when you want to load data by a single store.

   If you set the data seed options to enabled, then the application imports data to the stage tables and all objects imported successfully are loaded automatically to the EICS application tables. You may prefer this approach when you want to load data for all stores.

   The data seeding can be seeded to application tables automatically or can be loaded into stage tables and then from stage tables to applications in separate steps.

   To seed data from source system directly into ECIS application tables, set the following values:

   • Enabled Seed Foundation: true

   • Enable Seed Store Data: true

   To seed data from source system to BDI inbound staging table and then import data via manual trigger to application tables, set the following values before running BDI process flow:

   • Enabled Seed Foundation: false

   • Enable Seed Store Data: false

   Once BDI process flow uploads the data into stage table, you need to turn on these two flags when manually start importer jobs to load stage data into application tables.

For additional details, please see Appendix: Run Importer Separately from EICS Job Admin and Appendix: EICS Data Loading Performance Consideration

Figure 2-2 Data Seed Settings

EICS BDI-Based Data Seeding

This topic contains the following:

• BDI-Based Data Seeding Pre-requisites

• BDI-Based Data Seeding Process Flow Execution Order

• BDI-Based Data Seeding Procedure

• BDI-Based Data Seeding Post-Load processes

BDI-Based Data Seeding Pre-requisites

• Sourcing System (for example, Oracle RMS)

  The sourcing system is installed and initial inventory holding entities and data set up is completed within the external system.

• EICS

  EICS database and applications installations are completed.

• BDI Components

  The following BDI components have been installed as part of Oracle Retail Integration Cloud Service.

  BDI Process Flow: Provides a mechanism to run multiple dependent batch jobs.

  BDI-RMS Batch Job Admin: Provides management of BDI for RMS batch jobs.

  BDI-SIM Batch Job Admin: Provides management of BDI for EICS batch jobs.

  Please refer to the Oracle Retail Bulk Data Integration Installation Guide for BDI installations.

BDI-Based Data Seeding Procedure

Schedule Data Seeding Jobs

You can setup Data seeding schedule in BDI Scheduler Console.

Login BDI scheduler admin console, navigate to Manage Schedules, you can start the pre-defined schedule using Run Schedule Now icon or you can modify the schedule detail by changing the schedule frequency/start date (Alternatively you can create your own schedule based on the default schedule by setting the schedule frequency to One time only)

Figure 2-3 Scheduler Console

Please follow the schedule list dependencies (Note: There is no dependencies within the same schedule list).

List 1: BDI-Based Data Seeding Schedule List dependencies:

Schedule List#	Default Scheduler Name
1	MerchHier_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	Supplier_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	SupplierAddr_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	Partner_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	PartnerAddr_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	Wh_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	WhAddr_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
2	PartOrgUnit_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	ItemHdr_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	Uda_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	DiffGrp_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	CodeHead_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
3	PackItem_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedul
	RelatedItem_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
4	ItemSupplier_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	ItSupCtryDim_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	ItSupCtry_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	ItSupCtryManCtry_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	ItemSuppUom_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
5	Store_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	StoreAddr_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
6	ItemLoc_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	InvAvailStore_Tx_From_RMS_Schedule
7	ReplItemLoc_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	PriceHist_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
8	ItemImage_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	UomClass_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	UdaItemDate_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	UdaItemFF_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	UdaItemLov_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	UdaValues_Fnd _From_RMS_Schedule
9	CodeDetail_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	DeliverySlot_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	Diff_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule
	UomConversion_Fnd_From_RMS_Schedule

As initial data seeding should only be run once, you can disable daily scheduler after data seeding is completed.

For additional detail on BDI scheduler, please see BDI scheduler chapter in Oracle Retail Bulk Data Integration Implementation Guide.

BDI Process Flow Details

To view BDI Process Flow details, use the following steps:

Login to BDI Process Flow Console, navigate to Process Flow Execution tab to track the status of process flow.

Figure 2-4 BDI Process Flow Console

View Process Flow component details:

1. Extractor

   To view extract data from source app, launch edge app batch job admin. Following shows the steps to view extractor from RMS: launch RMS Batch Job admin console, login as BDI job Admin user.

   Figure 2-5 RMS Batch Job

   
   

   For details, please see Oracle Retail Bulk Data Integration Implementation Guide.

2. Downloader

   To view BDI Downloader job details, launch BDI for edge app batch admin console. Following shows the steps to view download from RMS. Launch BDI RMS Batch Job admin console, login as BDI RMS Job Admin user.

   Figure 2-6 BDI RMS Batch Job

   
   

   For details, please see Oracle Retail Bulk Data Integration Implementation Guide.

3. Uploader

   To view BDI SIM uploader details, Launch BDI SIM Batch Job admin console, login as SIM BDI Job Admin user.

   Figure 2-7 BDI SIM Batch Job

   
   

   For details, please see Oracle Retail Bulk Data Integration Implementation Guide.

4. Importer

   To View ECIS Importer details, launch EICS application, login ECIS as System Ops user, on Main Menu, Select Admin/ Technical Maintenance/Job Admin.

   Figure 2-8 Job Admin

   
   

   To view detail record, select the record, then click View Detail button, this will bring you to the Job Execution Detail screen.

   Figure 2-9 Job Execution

   
   

Load Staging Data to Application Tables

If you set the EICS seed options to enabled, the data from external source system is automatically loaded into application table, and you can skip the following steps.

If you set the seed options to disabled, and want to load data from staging table to applications through manual steps, please refer to the following:

Task	Step
Enable Data Seed Flags	Login ECIS as System Ops userOn Main Menu, Select Admin - Configuration - System AdministrationSearch for data seed on option field, change to desired value and save the change. Enabled Seed Foundation: true Enable Seed Store Data: true
Load data from stage tables to application tables	See Appendix A Run Importer Separately from EICS Job Admin

Re-running EICS Data Loads

After correcting the errors during process flow, you may re-run the initial data seeding process flow.

Important: Before executing additional runs of data seeding, please choose the appropriate re-seed options in EICS Job Admin Console.

Note: To import data for a specific store, please see Addition Notes: Importing Data for Single Store section

EICS system ops ser login EICS, from Main Menu, navigate to Admin Technical Maintenance/Job Admin

On Job Admin Screen, click Data Seed Button, this will bring you to the Data Seed screen, follow following steps:

Task	Step
Delete the previous seeded module data	Choose desired module from job drop-down list, and then select Data Seed Option Deleted For example: Choose Job Name Store_Fnd Select Seed Option Delete Seeded If you enter the store id, then only the seed data for that store is deleted.
Re-load data from stage tables (see re-import data from Source System, Re-import data step)	Choose Job Name Store from job drop-down list, and then select Data Seed Option Seed For example: If you enter the store id, then only the seed data for that store is seeded. If you want to import all stores, leave the store id as blank.
Re-Import data from Source System	Delete the previous seeded module data Go to BDI process flow, choose the flow to be re-run, start the BDI process flow

BDI-Based Data Seeding Post-Load Processes

1. Enable EICS constraints after data seeding.

   As EICS system ops user, login EICS, from Main Menu, navigate to Admin/Technical Maintenance/Job Admin

   On Job Admin Screen, click Data Seed. This will bring you to the Data Seed screen.

   Select Job Name Database Constraints.

   From Seed Option drop-down list, select Enable Constraint, then click Start Job.

2. Purge data from inbound data seeding stage tables:

   To purge the data from inbound staging tables, login EICS as EICS system ops user, from Main Menu, navigate to Admin Technical Maintenance/Job Admin.

   On Job Admin Screen, click Data Seed button, this will bring you to the Data Seed screen.

   Select Each Importer Job Name (for example Code Head), then choose Seed Option Delete In, click Start Job.

3. Turn off EICS Data Seeding System Configuration Flags.

   Login Oracle Enterprise Inventory Cloud Service page as ECIS System Ops user.

   On Main Menu, Navigate to Admin/Configuration/System Administration.

   Search for data seed on option field, change value and save the change.

   Enabled Seed Foundation: set value to false.

   Enable Seed Store Data: set value to false.