Customizing your data types in IBM Match 360

Adding or editing a record type

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To add a record type to your data type definitions, or edit an existing one:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .

2. Click Record types.

3. Click New record type or select the existing record type that you want to modify. If you are editing an existing record type, click the Edit icon .

4. Define the display name and description of the record type.

5. Optionally, define associated entity types that are valid for this record type. If you choose not to do this step now, you can associate one ore more entity types later.

6. Click Create.

   Tip: The name must follow the snake_case format, using only lowercase letters and no spaces, such as example_record_type.

7. Add attribute types and entity types to your record type. For details, see the following sections.

Adding an attribute or entity type to a record type

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To add an attribute or entity type to a record type:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .

2. Click Record types.

3. Click the name of the record type that you want to modify, then click the Edit icon .

4. Click New attribute or New entity type to start creating and associating attributes and entity types with your new record type.

5. Define the details of your new attribute type or entity type.

   • Attribute types can either be simple or complex. Complex attributes are made up of two or more simple values.

   • Entity types can either be identity entities or association entities. Identity entities link records that represent the same real-world person, organization, or object. Association entities link records that should be associated for another reason, such as a shared household or employer. For more information, see Data concepts in IBM Match 360.

6. Click Create to add the attribute type to your record type.

Remember: When you are done updating the data types, click Publish data types in the toolbar.

Deleting an attribute or entity type from a record type

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To edit an existing record type by removing one of its entity types or attribute types:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .
2. Click Record types.
3. Click the name of the record type that you want to modify and click the Edit icon .
4. Browse through the entity and attribute types that are associated with this record type. To find a specific attribute type, use the search function.
5. From the record type view, click the entity or attribute type you want to remove.
6. Click the Delete icon .

Remember: When you are done updating the data types, click Publish data types in the toolbar.

Adding or editing an entity type

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Entity types can either be identity entities or association entities. Identity entities link records that represent the same real-world person, organization, or object. Association entities link records that should be associated for another reason, such as a shared household or employer. For more information, see Data concepts in IBM Match 360.

To create or edit an entity type:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .

2. Click Entity types.

3. Click New entity type or click the name of the entity type that you want to modify and click the Edit icon .

4. Define the display name and description of this entity type.

5. Define whether this type of entity persists its composite view in the database or whether it is composed on demand from its member records.

   When an entity's composite view is configured to persist, you can directly search on entity data, including attributes and system properties such as record count and entity ID.

   After an entity type's composite view is configured to persist, this setting cannot be reversed.

6. Click Create to add this entity type to the data model.

7. Add attributes to your new entity type. For details, see the following section.

Adding an attribute to an entity type

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Attributes that you define as part of an entity type are stored in the database at the entity level, as opposed to the record level. Entity attribute values display when users view an entity, regardless of the member record attributes values. If no entity attribute values are defined, then the system determines all of an entity's attribute values from its member records' values by using attribute composition rules. For more information about attribute composition, see Defining attribute composition rules in IBM Match 360.

To add an attribute to an entity type:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .

2. Click Entity types.

3. Click the name of the entity type that you want to modify and click the Edit icon .

4. Click New attribute to start creating and associating attributes with your entity type.

5. Define the details of your attribute.

   Attribute types can either be simple or complex. Complex attributes are made up of two or more simple values.

6. Click Create to add the attribute to your entity type.

Remember: When you are done updating the data types, click Publish data types in the toolbar.

Adding a relationship type

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To add a relationship typedel:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .

2. Click Relationship types, then click New relationship type.

3. Define the label to use for the new relationship type. This label will be used to refer to relationships of this type. As you type the label, the relationship type name automatically completes.

4. Optionally, edit the prefilled relationship type name.

   Tip: The name must follow the snake_case format, using only lowercase letters and no spaces, such as `example_relationship_type`.

5. Type a short description of the relationship type.

6. Define whether this relationship is directional or bidirectional.

   • Directional relationships differ depending on which member of the relationship you are viewing. The labels for directional relationships are different depending on which side of the relationship you view. For example: Doctor-Patient, Parent-Child, Employer-Employee.
   • Bidirectional relationships are mutual relationships. The label used for bidirectional relationships is the same regardless of which side of the relationship you view. For example: Married to, Sibling of, Coworker of.

7. Click Next.

8. If you are defining a directional relationship, define the labels for each side of the relationship (source and target). For example, for an employment relationship, you can define labels such as "Employs" and "Is employed by".

9. Click Add endpoint rules to define rules that govern the types of entities that can be involved in relationships of this type. Endpoint rules are made up of source-target pairs. They define what types of entities are allowed for both the source and target sides of the relationship. Select All record types if there are no entity type restrictions or select one of the existing entity types in your data model.

   Tip: You must define at least one endpoint rule, but can define as many as necessary.

10. After adding endpoint rules, click Done.

11. Click Create

After creating a relationship type, you can see it listed in the Relationship types table.

Select a relationship type to see its details, as well as to edit or delete it.

Remember: When you are done updating the data types, click Publish data types in the toolbar.

Adding an attribute to a relationship type

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Add attributes to a relationship type to enable the relationship entity to store additional information about relationships of this type.

To add an attribute to a record type:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .
2. Click Relationship types.
3. Click the name of the relationship type that you want to modify and click the Edit icon .
4. Click New attribute to start creating and associating attributes and entity types with your new record type.
5. Define the details of the attribute type. An attribute can either be simple or complex. Complex attributes are made up of two or more simple values.
6. Click Add to add the attribute type to the record type.

Remember: When you are done updating the data types, click Publish data types in the toolbar.

Deleting an attribute from a relationship type

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To edit an existing relationship type by removing one of its attribute types:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click the Data types icon .
2. Click Relationship types.
3. Click the name of the relationship type that you want to modify and click the Edit icon .
4. Browse through the attribute types that are associated with this relationship type. To find a specific attribute type, use the search function.
5. From the relationship type view, click the attribute type you want to remove.
6. Click the Delete icon .

Remember: When you are done updating the data types, click Publish data types in the toolbar.

Adding a hierarchy type

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To define a new hierarchy type:

1. From the Master data navigation menu, click Data types to open the data types page.

2. Select Hierarchy types and then click New hierarchy type.

3. Specify the details of your new hierarchy type: a) Provide a display name and description for this hierarchy type. b) Select the allowed data types in this hierarchy type. For example, if this hierarchy is a company organizational chart, you might choose to only allow records that have the Employee record type. c) Click Create.

4. Optionally, add attributes and fields to the hierarchy. For more information. see Adding attributes and fields to a hierarchy type.

5. When you are done adding the hierarchy type, click Publish data type in the action bar of the screen.

   Important: After a hierarchy type is published, it cannot be deleted. You can only delete hierarchy types before they are published.

   To delete an unpublished hierarchy type: a) Click Data types in the navigation path to go back to the Hierarchy types screen. b) Review the list of hierarchy types. In the Data model status column, check to ensure that the value is Not published. c) Click the action menu for the hierarchy and choose Delete hierarchy type.