Extend a Custom or Business Glossary Model in
Metadata Manager - Best Practices
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Abstract
You can extend a model for a custom resource or a business glossary resource. When you extend a model, you might add,
edit, or remove attributes, classes, or relationships. This article describes the best practices for extending a custom model or
a customized business glossary model.
Supported Versions
¨ Metadata Manager 9.5.1
Table of Contents
Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Purging Metadata and Re-creating Customized Business Glossaries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Purging Metadata and Reloading Resources for Custom XConnects Created with a Load Template. . . . . . . . . . . 3
Purging Metadata and Reloading Resources for Custom XConnects Created with the Custom Metadata
Configurator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Overview
In Metadata Manager, you can extend the business glossary model and any custom model that you create. When you extend
a model, you customize the model.
Metadata Manager contains a business glossary model by default. The business glossary model defines the structure of a
business glossary and the properties for each category and business term. A custom model defines the representation of
metadata in a source for which Metadata Manager does not package a model. You can customize the business glossary model
and any custom model.
When you customize a model, you perform the following actions:
¨ Add a class to the model or add attributes and relationships to a model class. Any class, attribute, or relationship that
you add is called a custom class, attribute, or relationship. You can add a class, attribute, or relationship to the business
glossary model or to a custom model at any time.
¨ Rename, edit, or delete a custom class, attribute, or relationship.
If you want to rename, edit, or delete a custom class, attribute, or relationship, Informatica recommends the following best
practices:
Verify that the object is not in use.
Delete all instances of the custom class, attribute, or relationship before you change the model.
Warning: If you rename, edit, or delete a custom class, attribute or relationship that has an occurrence in any
resource, the Metadata Manager repository might become corrupted.
Purge metadata and then reload resources.
Alternately, you can purge the metadata loaded by the resources, update the model, and then re-create and reload the
resources. Purging metadata deletes all metadata for a resource from the Metadata Manager repository. Purge and
reload resources to minimize the chance that the metadata or the Metadata Manager repository becomes
corrupted.
The steps that you perform to purge metadata and reload resources depend on whether you customize the business
glossary model, create a custom XConnect with load templates, or create a custom XConnect with the Custom
Metadata Configurator.
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Note: Custom XConnects created with a load template have better logging, greater validation, and better performance
than custom XConnects created with the Custom Metadata Configurator. As of 9.5.1, the Custom Metadata
Configurator is provided for backward compatibility.
Purging Metadata and Re-creating Customized Business
Glossaries
If you want to rename, edit, or delete custom classes, attributes, or relationships in a business glossary, purge metadata and
re-create the glossary to prevent the Metadata Manager repository from becoming corrupted.
1.
Export the business glossaries to Microsoft Excel files.
2.
Purge metadata for all resources that are based on the business glossary model.
3.
Update the model. Rename, edit, or delete custom classes, attributes, and relationships.
4.
Update the business glossary Excel files to reflect the model changes.
5.
Import the Microsoft Excel files.
For detailed information about performing each of these tasks, see Metadata Manager Business Glossary Guide.
Purging Metadata and Reloading Resources for Custom
XConnects Created with a Load Template
If you want to rename, edit, or delete custom classes, attributes, or relationships in a custom model, purge metadata and reload
the resources to prevent the Metadata Manager repository from becoming corrupted.
1.
Purge metadata for all resources that are based on the custom model.
2.
Update the model. Rename, edit, or delete custom classes, attributes, and relationships.
3.
Change the load templates to reflect the model changes.
4.
Update the load templates on the Model tab in Metadata Manager.
5.
Re-create and reload the resources.
For detailed information about performing each of these tasks, see Metadata Manager Custom Metadata Integration Guide.
Purging Metadata and Reloading Resources for Custom
XConnects Created with the Custom Metadata Configurator
If you want to rename, edit, or delete custom classes, attributes, or relationships in a custom model, purge metadata and reload
the resources to prevent the Metadata Manager repository from becoming corrupted.
1.
Purge metadata for all resources that are based on the custom model.
2.
Use the Custom Metadata Configurator to delete all custom resource templates associated with the model.
3.
Update the model. Rename, edit, or delete custom classes, attributes, and relationships.
4.
Use the Custom Metadata Configurator to re-create the custom resource templates. Change the templates to reflect
the model changes.
5.
Re-create and reload the resources.
For detailed information about performing each of these tasks, see Metadata Manager Custom Metadata Integration Guide.
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Author
Nimmy Joychan
Technical Support Engineer, Informatica Global Customer Support
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Erwin Dral, Glen Martin, Rashmi Mani, and Lori Troy for their assistance with this article.
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