Defining Best of Breed Rules and Actions

Best of Breed rules and actions work together to determine which fields from duplicate records in a collection to copy to the Best of Breed record. Rules test values in a record and if the record passes the rules, the data is copied from the record to the template record. Actions define which data to copy, and which field in the template record should receive the data. After all the rules and actions are executed, the template record will be the best of breed record.

Rules and actions can be grouped together into conditions, and you can have multiple conditions. This allows you

  1. In the Best of Breed stage, under Best of Breed Settings, click the Rules node in the tree.
  2. Click Add Rule.
  3. Complete the following fields:
    Option Description

    Field name

    Specifies the name of the dataflow field whose value you want to evaluate to determine if the condition is met and the associated actions should be taken.

    Field Type

    Specifies the type of data in the field. One of the following:

    Non-Numeric
    Choose this option if the field contains non-numeric data (for example, string data).
    Numeric
    Choose this option if the field contains numeric data (for example, double, float, and so on).

    Operator

    Specifies the type of comparison you want to use to evaluate the field. One of the following:

    Contains
    Determines if the field contains the value specified. For example, "sailboat" contains the value "boat".
    Equal
    Determines if the field contains the exact value specified.
    Greater Than
    Determines if the field value is greater than the value specified. This operation only works on numeric fields.
    Greater Than Or Equal To
    Determines if the field value is greater than or equal to the value specified. This operation only works on numeric fields.
    Highest
    Compares the field's value for all the records group and determines which record has the highest value in the field. For example, if the fields in the group contain values of 10, 20, 30, and 100, the record with the field value 100 would be selected. This operation only works on numeric fields. If multiple records are tied for the longest value, one record is selected.
    Is Empty
    Determines if the field contains no value.
    Is Not Empty
    Determines if the field contains any value.
    Less Than
    Determines if the field value is less than the value specified. This operation only works on numeric fields.
    Less Than Or Equal To
    Determines if the field value is less than or equal to the value specified. This operation only works on numeric fields.
    Longest
    Compares the field's value for all the records group and determines which record has the longest (in bytes) value in the field. For example, if the group contains the values "Mike" and "Michael", the record with the value "Michael" would be selected. If multiple records are tied for the longest value, one record is selected.
    Lowest
    Compares the field's value for all the records group and determines which record has the lowest value in the field. For example, if the fields in the group contain values of 10, 20, 30, and 100, the record with the field value 10 would be selected. This operation only works on numeric fields. If multiple records are tied for the longest value, one record is selected.
    Most Common
    Determines if the field value contains the value that occurs most frequently in this field among the records in the group. If two or more values are most common, no action is taken.
    Not Equal
    Determines if the field value is not the same as the value specified.

    Value type

    Specifies the type of value you want to compare to the field's value. One of the following:

    Note: This option is not available if you select the operator Highest, Lowest, or Longest.
    Field
    Choose this option if you want to compare another dataflow field's value to the field.
    String
    Choose this option if you want to compare the field to a specific value.
    Value

    Specifies the value to compare to the field's value. If you selected Field in the Field type field, select a dataflow field. If you selected String in the Value type field, type the value you want to use in the comparison.

    Note: This option is not available if you select the operator Highest, Lowest, or Longest.
  4. Click OK.
  5. If you want to specify additional rules for this condition, click Add Rule.

    If you add additional rules, you will have to select a logical operator to use between each rule. Choose And if you want the new rule and the previous rule to both pass in order for the condition to be met and the associated actions taken. Select Or if you want either the previous rule or the new rule to pass in order for the condition to be met.

  6. Click the Actions node in the tree.
  7. Click Add Action.
  8. Complete the following fields.
    Option Description

    Source type

    Specifies the type of data to copy to the best of breed record. One of the following.

    Field
    Choose this option if you want to copy a value from a field to the best of breed record.
    String
    Choose this option if you want to copy a constant value to the best of breed record.

    Source data

    Specifies the data to copy to the best of breed record. If the source type is Field, select the field whose value you want to copy to the destination field. If the source type is String, specify a constant value to copy to the destination field.

    Destination

    Specifies the field in the best of breed record to which you want to copy the data specified in the Source data field.

    Accumulate source data

    If the data in the Source data field is numeric data, you can enable this option to combine the source data for all duplicate records and put the total value in the best of breed record.

    For example, if there were three duplicate records in the group and they contained these values in the Deposits field:

    100.00
    20.00
    5.00

    Then all three values would be combined and the total value, 125.00, would be put in the best of breed record's Deposits field.
  9. Click OK.
  10. If you want to specify additional actions to take for this condition, click Add Action and repeat the above steps.
  11. To add another condition, click the root condition in the tree then click Add Condition.

Example Best of Breed Rule and Action

This Best of Breed rule selects the record where the Match Score is equal to the value of 100. The Account Number data that corresponds to the selected field is then copied to the AccountNumber field on the Best of Breed record.

Rule
Field Name: MatchScore
Field Type: Numeric
Operator: Equal
Value Type: String
Value: 100

Action
Source Type: Field
Source Data: AccountNumber
Destination: AccountNumber