Understanding Bindings and Bound Data Objects

Bindings are created between dimensions and viewpoints in an Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud application to ensure that the bound data objects conform to an external application's requirements. If a viewpoint and its related data chain objects are bound to a dimension, it means that those objects are used by the external application.

Changes made to the bound objects are imported from and exported back to the external application, with the exception of bound lookup dimensions. For example, if you add 10 new nodes to a bound viewpoint in Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud, the next time the dimension is exported, the 10 new nodes are part of the export to the external application.

There are three types of bindings in Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud:

Dimension binding: Automatically created during application registration. When a dimension is registered for an application, Oracle Enterprise Data Management Cloud automatically creates one or more viewpoints (based on the application type and information provided during registration) and a series of related data chain objects. This viewpoint and the associated data chain objects are bound to the external application at the dimension level.
Note:
- Oracle Financials Cloud General Ledger dimensions can be bound to multiple viewpoints to support multiple trees and tree versions. See Copying Bindings to Create Trees or Tree Versions.
- All other application types support a single dimension binding. That is, for all application types except Oracle Financials Cloud General Ledger, you can change the viewpoint that a dimension is bound to, but you cannot bind a dimension to multiple viewpoints.
Map binding: Manually created to enable you to map node types from dimensions in different source applications to a dimension in a target application. When you create a map binding, a mapping hierarchy set, node set, and viewpoint are also created. You can create only one map binding for a dimension, but you can map multiple source systems in your mapping. See Creating Mapping Viewpoints.
Lookup binding: Manually created for lookup dimensions. When you create a lookup binding, the data chain objects needed to support the binding are also created if they do not already exist. This includes a viewpoint, hierarchy set (if needed), node set, and Lookup class node type. Lookup bindings are not used to import and export data. You can create multiple lookup bindings for a lookup dimension. See Creating a Lookup Binding.

The data imported and exported for a dimension is stored and displayed by the data objects bound to the dimension. If a dimension is related to other data objects, those objects are unbound. Only data contained by the dimension's bound viewpoints is imported and exported.

The following list describes considerations for bindings and bound data objects:

To ensure that a dimension's data conforms to the requirements of the external application, some binding settings cannot be overridden by settings on related data objects. For example, if a binding does not enable shared nodes, the hierarchy set bound to the dimension cannot enable shared nodes.
Binding rules protect such dimension settings from being overridden, see Understanding Binding Rules.
You can change the viewpoint and related data objects bound to a dimension, see Binding a Viewpoint to a Dimension in Planning and FreeForm Applications or, for Universal applications, see Changing the Viewpoint Bound to a User Defined Dimension in Universal Applications.
You cannot manually delete bindings that were created as part of the application registration process (such as dimension bindings). Bindings that were created manually, such as map bindings and lookup bindings, can be deleted.

Note:

Only data objects bound to a dimension must conform with the binding rules. Unbound data objects enable you to model and evaluate potential changes to dimensions in cases where the changes would not conform with a dimension's current binding rules.

Binding Status

The binding status of a data chain object identifies whether its data is used by an external application. Data objects may be bound because they are used in a binding themselves, or because they contain a data chain object that is bound. For example, if a viewpoint that is not used in a binding contains a node set that is bound to a dimension, the viewpoint has a status of Node Set Bound. To ensure data integrity during import and export operations, predefined validation rules are run against data objects with any binding status except Unbound. See Understanding Validations and Constraints.

The following table describes the binding status for data objects.

Table 19-1 Binding Statuses for Data Objects

Binding Status	Viewpoint	Node Set	Hierarchy Set	Node Types
Bound	The viewpoint is used in a binding.	The node set is used by a bound viewpoint.	The hierarchy set is used by a bound viewpoint.	The node types are used by a bound viewpoint.
Node Set Bound	The viewpoint itself is not bound, but it uses a bound node set.	The node set is used by a bound viewpoint	Not applicable for hierarchy sets	Not applicable for node types
Hierarchy Set Bound	The viewpoint itself is not bound, but it uses a bound hierarchy set.	The node set is not bound, but it uses a bound hierarchy set.	The hierarchy set is used by a bound viewpoint.	Not applicable for node types
Node Type Bound	The viewpoint itself is not bound, but it uses a bound node type.	The node set is not bound, but it uses a bound node type.	The hierarchy set is not bound, but it uses a bound node type.	May contain bound and unbound node types.
Mapping Bound	The viewpoint is used in a map binding. It can be used in extracts that contain specialty node types such as Lookup and Legacy GL class node types.	The node set is used in a map binding.	The hierarchy set is used in a map binding.	May contain bound and unbound node types.
Unbound	The viewpoint is not used in a binding, and all of the data chain objects that it contains have a binding status of Unbound.	The node set is not used in a binding, and all of the data chain objects that it contains have a binding status of Unbound.	The hierarchy set is not used in a binding, and all of the data chain objects that it contains have a binding status of Unbound.	The node type has a binding status of Unbound.

For more information, see: