Working with Node Types

A node type is a collection of an application's nodes that share a common business purpose. Use node types to define nodes' properties and to define rules that convert a node type to another node type.

Each node is a member of a node type. For example, a node for an account typically will be a member of its application's node type for accounts.

The following list provides examples of how node types categorize nodes:

  • The nodes for a Company dimension could be assigned to a node type for companies.
  • The nodes of a hierarchy that organizes employees by office location could be assigned to node types for either employees or locations.

The following list describes node type features and considerations:

  • Every node is assigned a node type.
  • A node is uniquely identified by the combination of node name and node type.
  • A node's type never varies. In other words, if a node is available in multiple viewpoints, its node type can't be changed in any of the viewpoints.
  • A node type defines the properties available in any viewpoint that includes the node type in its data chain.
  • Node types can have one of the following classes. You cannot change the class of a node type after it has been created:
    • Normal: For dimension types other than lookup dimensions. You can add or remove properties to a node type with a class of Normal.
    • Lookup: Specialty node type used to store reference data from an external system. Contains generic reference properties that you cannot change. Can be used in any dimension type.
    • Legacy GL: Specialty node type used to model chart of account values from a legacy general ledger system. Contains basic general ledger and mapping set properties that you cannot change. Can be used in any dimension type.

    Note:

    Nodes with the Lookup or Legacy GL class node type are not included in your total record count. See Working with Specialty Node Type Classes.
  • The node type data object doesn't have dependencies on other data chain objects.
  • You can specify that a node type's nodes can be converted to another node type, see Working with Node Type Converters.

For more information, see:

Example 20-2 Node Type Example

The Example 20-1 uses node types for Employees and Departments, as shown in the following diagram:

Nodes belonging to the example's Employees and Departments node types.

The example uses two node types because Departments and Employees nodes would be treated differently. For example, the Employees nodes could have properties for employees' addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses, while the Departments nodes could have a property for department managers.

Videos

Your Goal Watch This Video

Learn about setting up node types.

video icon Setting Up Node Types