Creating mappings
You create mappings between the tables of the staging database and the hierarchies of the
application model.
The fields for each mapping depend on how the source data is structured. Source data can be held in one of these types of structure:
- Parent-child
- Level-based
- Flat
The same data can be stored in different ways, so you must have knowledge of your source data. For example, a list of geographical areas could be stored in a table with a hierarchical, parent-child structure, or in a table with a level-based structure.
This table shows a level-based structure of areas. The three levels are Continent, Region , and Country.
| Continent | Region | Country |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | Central | Slovakia |
| Europe | Central | Czech Republic |
| Europe | Scandinavia | Finland |
| Europe | Scandinavia | Sweden |
| United States | Northeast | Massachusetts |
| United States | Northeast | New York |
| United States | Midwest | Michigan |
| United States | Midwest | Minnesota |
This table shows the same data in a parent-child structure
| Parent | Child 1 | Child 2 |
|---|---|---|
| Europe | ||
| Central Europe | ||
| Slovakia | ||
| Czech Republic | ||
| Scandinavia | ||
| Finland | ||
| Sweden | ||
| United States | ||
| Northeast | ||
| Massachusetts | ||
| New York | ||
| Midwest | ||
| Michigan | ||
| Minnesota |
An example of data with a flat structure is a list of currencies and their codes.