Creating, Editing, and Deleting Matching Rules

Matching rules control how nodes are matched from an incoming data source to nodes that already exist in a viewpoint when the nodes are named differently. Instead of an exact match on the node name, you can create matches based on other properties and match types.

Matching rules are created at the node type level. You can define multiple rules for a node type, and you can specify the order in which the rules are evaluated.

Matching Rules Overview

By default, when you bring in nodes the system performs an exact match name on the Name property (including any node type qualifiers and alternate names) in order to determine whether or not the incoming node is the same as an existing node. Matching rules enable you to specify other properties and match types to determine whether the nodes are the same.

For example, suppose you had a viewpoint with a node named "Oracle Corporation", and you upload a request file that contains a node with the name "Oracle Inc". If you were to apply the changes from this request file without matching, you would end up with two different records (because there isn't an exact match on the name).

Instead of the exact name match, you could set up a matching rule that looks for names that are similar to one another. Then, when you run matching on the request items, the system presents the incoming "Oracle Inc" node as a potential match to the existing "Oracle Corporation" node. When the match is accepted, the incoming node is merged into the existing node, and you have a single record for Oracle with the merged information from both nodes.

You could also configure the matching rule to match on properties other than Name. Suppose both records had a property called Symbol, with the value "ORCL". You could set up a matching rule to match on Symbol instead of Name in order to match the incoming node to the existing one.

Best Practices

While you can enable up to three match rules at a time, each rule requires additional processing time when running the matches. Therefore, it is a best practice to enable only the minimum number of matching rules that meet your business needs.

Considerations

• You must have Owner or Metadata Manager permission on the application or dimension that contains the node type in order to create, edit, or delete matching rules.

• If you enable multiple matching rules, matching is performed using OR logic. That is, if a node meets the criteria of one rule or the other rule, it is presented as a potential match.
• If you add multiple criteria to a single matching rule, matching is performed using AND logic. That is, in order for the nodes to be considered a match for a rule, all of the criteria that you specify must be true.

Creating Matching Rules

1. Inspect the node type that you want to create a matching rule for. See Inspecting a Node Type.
2. Navigate to the Rules tab, and on the Matching sub-tab click Create.
3. Enter a name and, optionally, a description for the matching rule.
4. In the Data Sources drop down menu, select the data source that will use this matching rule, and then click Create.

   The matching rule is displayed in the inspector.

Editing Matching Rules

After creating a matching rule, you can edit it to change the name or description, enable it, change the rule order, or edit the definition parameters. You cannot edit the data source for a matching rule after it has been created.

1. Inspect the matching rule that you want to edit.
2. On the General tab, click Edit and perform an action:
   • (Optional) Edit the name or description.
   • In Rule Order, use the Up and Down arrows or enter an integer to specify the order in which this matching rule should be run for this data source and node type.

     Tip:

     It can be helpful to enter larger values for the rule order so that if you create new rules that you want to place before your existing rules you do not have to manually reorder all of your rules.
   • Use the Enabled checkbox to enable or disable the matching rule.
3. On the Definition tab, click Edit, and then click the + sign to specify rule criteria:
   • Use the Property drop down to select the property for the match. You can select from node-level properties with indexed values only.
   • Use the Match Type and Match Option drop downs to select the operator (and option, as needed) for the match. The match type values depend on the data type of the property that you select, and the match option values depend on the match type, as follows:

     Property Data Type	Operators and Match Options
     String, Memo, Numeric String, Sequence	Equals Contains Similar To: Performs a fuzzy search on the property value. In Match Options, optionally specify a Prefix Length that specifies the number of characters at the beginning of the string that must exactly match. The prefix length can be used to reduce the query results to only those that have the same characters at the beginning of the string.
     Integer, Float	Equals Between In Match Options, specify an offset to indicate the upper and lower boundaries of the range of values to match on. For example, if you are matching with an offset of 5 on a target property that has value of 10, then any incoming source property value from 5 to 15 will be considered a match. Greater Than Less Than
     Date, Timestamp	Equals Between In Match Options, specify an offset (in days) to indicate the upper and lower boundaries of the date range to match on. For example, if you are matching with an offset in days of 3 on a target property that has a date of March 10, then any incoming source property value from March 7th to March 13th is considered a match. Before After

   • When you have finished entering the first matching criteria, click + to enter a second criteria, or click Save to save the definition for the matching rule.
   • To remove a rule criteria, in the Action column click the Action menu , and then click Remove.
4. Click Save to save the criteria that you entered.

Deleting a Matching Rule

1. Inspect the node type that contains the matching rule that you want to delete.
2. From the Rules tab, select the Matching sub-tab, and then click Edit.
3. In the Action column click the Action menu for the rule that you want to delete, and then click Delete.
4. Click Yes to confirm that you want to delete the matching rule.

   Note:

   You cannot delete a matching rule that has any matching history. If the matching rule is no longer needed, you can disable it instead.