Creating, Editing, and Validating Subscriptions

Best Practice

When you create a node type converter, it is a best practice to convert a source node type to a single node type in the target viewpoint. If you convert a source node type to multiple target node types, the subscription request could become ambiguous and the record may be skipped.

Subscription Prerequisites

These conditions must be met in order to be able to create a subscription:

The source and target viewpoints both must have an Active status.
The subscription creator and the default and alternate assignees must have sufficient permissions and data access. See Security for Requests.
If the source and target viewpoints both have a hierarchy type node set, the two hierarchy sets must be different, and the two viewpoints must have at least one equivalent node type between them. That is, the source and the target viewpoints must have the same node type in the same application, or else a node type converter must be set up to convert the source node type to the target node type.
If the source viewpoint has a list type node set and the target viewpoint has a hierarchy type node set, the two viewpoints must have at least one equivalent node type between them. That is, the source and the target viewpoints must have the same node type in the same application, or else a node type converter must be set up to convert the source node type to the target node type.
If the source and target viewpoints both have a list type node set or if the source has a hierarchy type node set and the target has a list type node set, the two viewpoints must have at least one different node type and a node type converter must be set up to convert the source node type to the target node type.
For subscription actions that add or insert nodes where the source viewpoint has a list type node set and the target viewpoint has a hierarchy type node set, the value of the parent in the hierarchy viewpoint can be calculated for each request action. An administrator must define an expression to calculate the parent value. See Calculated and Stored Properties.
For subscriptions with calculated node names, the node names are calculated in the source viewpoint and the resulting names are passed to the target viewpoints. If you want to calculate the names in the target viewpoint, you must set up a property transformation in the node type converter to transform the name property into a blank value or one of the calculated name keywords. See Calculated Names and Subscriptions.
Parent transformations in node type converters are run for top nodes in source hierarchy viewpoints when request items for a subscription request are generated. This enables top nodes which were added in a source viewpoint to be placed under a different parent in a target hierarchy viewpoint.
If your target viewpoint name has more than 30 characters, you must create a label that has 30 characters or less. The label is used instead of the viewpoint name in the subscription request file. See Inspecting a Viewpoint.
You cannot create subscriptions with time labeled viewpoints as either the source or target viewpoint.

Creating a Subscription

A target viewpoint can subscribe to multiple source viewpoints. To create a subscription:

From Views, open the view that contains the target viewpoint.
Select the target viewpoint.
Place your cursor to the right of the viewpoint name, click , and then select Inspect.
Select the Subscriptions tab, and then click Create.
In the Create Subscriptions dialog box, perform these actions:
1. Select the source viewpoint that you want to subscribe to.
  
  Note:
  
  Only the viewpoints that match the conditions in Subscription Prerequisites are displayed for selection.
2. Optional: Enter a name and description for the subscription. By default, the subscription name is "{Source View Name} | {Source Viewpoint Name}".
3. Click Create.

After you click Create, the subscription is displayed in the Subscription Inspector. From here, you can edit the subscription settings.

Editing, Enabling, Disabling, or Deleting Subscriptions

To edit a subscription:

From Views, open the view that contains the target viewpoint.
Select the target viewpoint.
Place your cursor to the right of the viewpoint name, click , and then select Inspect.
Select Subscriptions, and then click the name of the subscription that you want to edit.

The subscription is displayed in the subscription inspector.
Optional: On the General tab, click Edit, and then modify the subscription name or description.

On the Definition tab, click Edit, and then perform an action:

Select the default and alternate request assignees. See Assigning Subscription Requests.

Note:

Only users that have at least Participant(Write) permission on the dimension in the target viewpoint are available to be selected. The icon indicates that the user has an email address configured and is able to receive request notifications.

Optional: Select one or more of these options:

Field	Description
Enabled	Enables the subscription. When you create a subscription, it is disabled by default. You must have defined a default or alternate assignee in order to enable a subscription. You can also enable and disable subscriptions from the Subscriptions tab of the viewpoint inspector. See To enable, disable, or delete a subscription, below. Note: When a subscription is disabled, no subscription requests or request items are generated for the target viewpoint.
Collaborate	Includes alternate assignees who are not assigned the request as collaborators on the request. This enables the alternate assignees to make changes to request items and add comments or attachments even when the request is not assigned to them. See Collaborating on a Request.
Auto-Submit	Enables the system to automatically submit the subscription if it passes validation and meets either of the following conditions: No items are skipped Items are skipped with either a "No updates required" or "Row with the same key was already processed" status. If items are skipped with any other status (even if other items in the same request are skipped with one of the two statuses above), the entire subscription request is not submitted.
Bypass Approvals	Enables the system to bypass approvals for auto-submitted requests Note: This option is available only when Auto-Submit is selected.

Optional: On the Filters tab, for subscriptions in hierarchy viewpoints only you can add top node filters if you don't want to subscribe to the entire viewpoint. Top node filters enable you to select the branches in the source viewpoint that you want to subscribe to. See Adding Filters and Conditions to Subscriptions
Click Save.

Note:

You cannot edit a subscription to change the source viewpoint to subscribe to. To change the source viewpoint, delete the existing subscription and create a new subscription with the desired source viewpoint.

To enable, disable, or delete a subscription:

Inspect the viewpoint that contains the subscription that you want to enable, disable, or delete. See Inspecting a Viewpoint.
On the Subscriptions tab, click Edit.
In the Action column of the subscription that you want to take action on, click , and then select an option:
- Enable (available only if the subscription is disabled)
- Disable (available only if the subscription is enabled)
- Delete
Click Yes to confirm, and then click Save.

Validating Subscriptions

When you create a subscription, the system ensures that it conforms to the prerequisites listed above. After a subscription is created, however, the configuration of the viewpoints and the users may change, which could result in an invalid subscription. When you navigate to the subscription panel, all existing subscriptions for a viewpoint are validated to verify that they meet the rules of a subscription. If a subscription is invalid, you can take action to resolve the issue.

Resolving Validation Errors

The examples below illustrate common subscription validation errors and the actions to resolve them.

If the source and target viewpoints do not have a node type in common or if a node type converter is not set up between the source and the target viewpoints, the system displays the following error:

source viewpoint must have at least one equivalent node type in common to target viewpoint

To resolve this, create a node type converter to convert the source node type to the target node type, see Working with Node Type Converters.

If the subscription assignee does not have at least Participant(Read) permission to the source viewpoint and Participant(Write) permission to the target viewpoint, the system displays the following error:

assignee must have at least data manager permission on target viewpoint

To resolve this, ensure that the subscription assignee has at least Participant(Read) permission to the source viewpoint and Participant(Write) permission to the applications in the target viewpoint, see Assigning Application Permissions and Assigning View Permissions.

If the source or target viewpoint is no longer active, the system displays the following error:

viewpoint must be active to be the source of a subscription

To resolve inactive viewpoint errors, change the status of the archived viewpoint back to Active. See Understanding the Lifecycle of Data Objects and the Data Chain.