Managing Multiple Data Sources
Some implementations require sourcing fact data from more than one source. For example, your inventory data may be coming from Merchandising Foundation CS (MFCS) but your sales data will come from an external 3rd-party application. In such cases, it will be necessary to manually configure your batch schedule for AIF DATA to selectively enable the jobs for your chosen data flow and disable all other paths for that data. The diagrams in this section highlight each possible data flow from an outside source into the AIF DATA data warehouse.
Each numbered entry point into the data flow is mutually exclusive, you cannot run multiple data flows at the same time or it can result in duplicated or invalid data being loaded. For example, if you are entering the diagram from point 1, you would want to ensure all AIF DATA jobs along that path are enabled, and also disable the jobs for unused entry points (2 and 4). The entry points in every diagram are explained in more detail below.
| Entry Point | Explanation |
|---|---|
|
1 |
This is the data flow for Retail Data Extractor for MFCS v19 or earlier. In this flow, RDE is a separate module that runs on the MFCS server and POM instance and creates flat files to export to AIF DATA. This data flow includes on-premise instances of MFCS/RDE. |
|
2 |
This is the data flow for Retail Data Extractor for MFCS v23 or later. In this flow, RDE jobs are a part of the AIF DATA batch schedule and will directly read from MFCS and insert to AIF DATA staging tables without using any files. |
|
3 |
This is the data flow for legacy AIF DATA flat file formats, which use the same file structures as RDE v19 or earlier. New implementations will generally not use this entry point for foundation fact data. |
|
4 |
This is the data flow for simplified foundation interfaces in RAP v23 or later that use CSV file formats. When data is not coming from MFCS, it should usually enter here. |