Set up Base Object in MDM Hub Console

How to Set Up a Base Object in Informatica MDM

Before we dive into the setup, let’s first grasp what a Base Object really is.

A Base Object is essentially a table in the MDM hub that holds important details about an entity relevant to your business, like information about people, emails, or accounts.

Each Base Object table comes with supporting tables like <BO Table>_XREF, _HIST, _MTCH, _STRP, and so on. Each of these supporting tables serves a unique function. For instance, the _XREF table keeps track of the source-level contributions, while the _HIST table records the history of changes. When you create a Base Object in the MDM console, the system automatically generates these supporting tables for you.

Every entity has one master record, which is considered the golden record or the best version of the truth (BVT). An entity might have several records in the Base Object that represent different versions of the truth, and these need to be combined into the master record. This process of merging duplicate records into a single, reliable record is known as consolidation, ensuring that the final record contains the most accurate information from all sources.

To better understand, let's consider the example below where a person's information comes from various sources like SFDC, Online, and Bank. These are different versions of the same person provided by different systems. You combine all these records into one single record to create a BVT, and this process of merging is called consolidation.

Login to Hub Console:- 

Go to Schema section under Model workbench, and click on write lock(Top) to Acquire lock to make changes in the hub console. 

Now right click on Base Objects to add a BO Table. Provide "Display name" & Physical name and click ok.

Display name: This would be Business name e:g Person

Physical name: This is the name you see in ORS schema e:g "cmx_ors"

When the BO table is created, process would create system columns and supporting tables(as mentioned above), below snapshot shows the same.

Now add below Columns to the Base Object

On Right top corner click on plus(+) sign to add columns to the base object, provide display name and Physical name and define data types for the columns.

Click Save

Let's check out some options for the base object:

Nullable: This is similar to a database constraint. If it's turned on, the column can have null values; if it's off, you must provide a value for this column. 

Has Default: If this is on, you can set a default value. 

Default: Fill in this column if you want to set a default value when the source system doesn't give one.

Trust: If this is on, Informatica MDM Hub will use the source system value with the highest trust score. If it's off, it will use the most recently updated value. 

Unique: If this is on, Informatica MDM Hub will make sure that all values in the column are unique. If the unique constraint is on, make sure there are no duplicate values in that column.