Data Management Concepts

The data management framework consists of the following concepts:​

  • Data entities – A data entity is a conceptual abstraction and encapsulation of one or more underlying tables. A data entity represents a common data concept or functionality, such as customers or vendors. Data entities are intended to be easily understood by users who are familiar with business concepts. After data entities are created, you can reuse them through the Excel add-in, use them to define import/export packages, or use them for integrations.​
  • Data project – A data project is automatically created when you select Import or Export from the workspace and should have at least one job. It contains configured data entities, which include mapping and default processing options. A data project allows users to set up the entities that should be part of the project and defines the format that is used for each entity. It allows users to define the mapping that is used from the source file to the staging and to specify the default processing options.​
  • Data job – Use a data job to perform the actual import or export operation. A data job contains an execution instance of the data project, uploaded files, the schedule or recurrence information, and the processing options to use for the job.​
  • Job history – Histories of source to staging and staging to target jobs. After a job has been run, you can view the job history, which contains the run history for each execution run of the data job and the history of the data move from source to staging and from staging to target.​
  • Data package – Data packages are key concepts for many application lifecycle management (ALM) scenarios, such as copy configuration and data migration. A data package is a single compressed file that contains a data project manifest and data files. A data package is generated from a data job and is used for the importing or exporting of multiple files with the manifest. After you’ve defined a data project, including the data entities and the mapping and sequencing between these data entities, you can create a data package. Then, you can use the data package to move the definition of the data project from one environment to another.​