Entity Configuration

The Entity Configuration panel allows you to define one or more configurations to connect an entity type to itself, (such as Person reportsTo Person) or to create or update an entity type based on two different fields. These can be either from the same record or from records from different sources. You can specify a name for the new entity type and add one or more configurations. Each entity configuration can have it's own set of properties.

Entity type

Specifies the entity name.

Configurations

Configurations map input fields to entity types (as in Person:Name). These mappings create unique identifiers for each Entity. This identifier combines the Entity Type and Entity Label (data from the input field) to create a unique identifier called the Entity ID (for example, Person:Churchill). This mapping provides the source and target identifiers for relationships (as in Person:Name → Event:EventName).

Properties

For each configuration, this section maps property names to source fields. The mapping depends on whether you are defining a known entity type or a new entity type. For a known entity type, you map source fields to the property names. For a new entity type, you choose source fields and enter names to define properties.

Update mode

Choose how Write to Model manages property updates. After an entity is created it can be updated over time when data with the same Entity ID is input into the Write to Model stage.

• Always update properties—Properties are always updated with the most recent information. This includes updating with null or empty strings.
• Update properties unless all input is null—Properties are always updated unless all input fields associated with the selected properties are null.
• Never overwrite non-empty properties—Properties are always updated unless the input is a null or empty string.
• Never overwrite properties with empty input data—Properties are never updated once populated with non-empty data.

Property name

Specifies the name of an entity property. For a known entity type, this column is populated with property names from the entity. For a new entity type, enter a property name in this column for each selected source field. By default, the property name is the source field name.

Source field

Specifies the source field of an entity property. For a known entity type, select a source field that maps to a property. For a new entity type, select the source fields in this column that will populate entity properties. Choose None if there is no source field that maps to a property.