Defining Best of Breed Settings

The 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 run, the template record will be the best of breed record.

Note: In Best of Breed Settings, Rules and Actions are grouped together into conditions, and you can have multiple conditions.
To define Best of Breed rules and actions, go to Best of Breed Settings in the Rule Configuration panel and perform these steps:
  1. Click the Add condition button.

    A condition node is displayed to define the rules and actions.

  2. Click the Add rule button.
  3. Define these options as listed in the table below, which are displayed on the Rules node:
    Option Description

    Field name

    		 It 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 Select one of these from the drop-down list to specify the type of data in the field:
    • Non-Numeric: Select 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 or float.
    Operator Select one of these from the drop-down list to specify the type of comparison you want to use to evaluate the field:
    • 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.
      Note: 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 10, 20, 30, or 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.

    • Shortest: Compares the field's value for all the records group and determines which record has the shortest (in bytes) value in the field.

      For example, if the group contains the values "Mike" and "Michael", the record with the value "Mike" would be selected. If multiple records are tied for the shortest 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 10, 20, 30, or 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 group's records. If you select this operator, you see the Multiple results option, which allows you to choose one of these:
      1. Consider None: If the field has the same number of occurrences for more than one value, no value is returned as most common.
      2. Consider All: If the field has the same number of occurrences for more than one value, all most common values are returned.
    • Not Equal: Determines if the field value is not the same as the value specified.
    Value type Select one of these from the drop-down list to specify the value you want to compare to the field's value:
    Note: This option is not available if you select one of these Operators - Highest, Lowest, Longest, Shortest, Is Empty, Is Not Empty, or Most Common.
    • Field: Select this option if you want to compare another dataflow field's value to the field.
    • String: Select this option if you want to compare the field to a specific value.
    Value It specifies the value to compare to the field's value.
    • If you selected Field in the Value type field, select a dataflow field.
    • If you selected String in the Value type field, enter the value you want to use in the comparison.
    Note: This option is not available if you select one of these Operators - Highest, Lowest, Longest, Shortest, Is Empty, Is Not Empty, or Most Common.
  4. (Optional) If you want to define additional rules, click the Add rule button.
    Note: If you add additional rules, you will have to select a logical operator to use between each rule.
    • 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 And.
    • If you want either the previous rule or the new rule to pass in order for the condition to be met. select Or.
  5. Click the Add action button.
  6. Define these options as listed in the table below, which are displayed on the Actions node:
    Option Description

    Source type

    		 Select one of these from the drop-down list to specify the type of data to copy to the Best of Breed record:
    • Field: Select this option if you want to copy a value from a field to the Best of Breed record.
    • String: Select this option if you want to copy a constant value to the Best of Breed record.
    Source data It 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 It specifies the field in the Best of Breed record to which you want to copy the data defined in the Source data field.
    Accumulate source data

    If the data in the Source data field is numeric, 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.
  7. (Optional) If you want to define additional actions for the same condition, repeat steps 5 and 6.
  8. (Optional) If you want to add another condition, click the Add condition button.

Example for 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