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  • 1.  Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 06-24-2021 12:14
    Does anyone have best practices and recommendations around the best way to implement a sequence generator that can create an Enterprise ID within Reltio?

    For example, do you not assign an Enterprise ID to records that are in the suspect queue?

    How do you handle merges and unmerges with respect to this ID assignment within Reltio?

    Do you restrict publishing records without an Enterprise ID?

    Are there any technical considerations for the format and generation of this ID within Reltio?


    Any insights that you have would be appreciated.

    Thank you,
    Brian

    ------------------------------
    Brian Beil
    Senior Manager, Provider MDM Operations
    Evernorth
    ------------------------------


  • 2.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 06-28-2021 08:52

    Hi Brian,

     

    We implemented a Enterprise Sequence counter in our environment.   Every Profile is assigned this sequence key when it is Created in Reltio and it will remain on that profile for ever (stable key).

     

    For Survivorship -minimum is used.   The reason we implemented the Key was for downstream Reporting requirement that needed a Stable Key for the Data Warehouse.   By choosing Minimum, it reduces the number of times the OV Sequence Key changes for Reporting. 

     

     

     

    Angela Wawrzaszek
    MDM Manager 
    Master Data Management - Data standardization and process alignment 

    +1 315.291.3565 office 
    Angela.Wawrzaszek@Hillrom.com 

    Hill-Rom 

    hillrom.com 


     

     

     



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  • 3.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 06-28-2021 09:48
    Hi Brian,

    Introducing an Enterprise ID has always led to interesting conversations in my opinion. Often times folks (e.g., management) want to establish a "persistent" ID that identifies an individual that never changes - ever. However, that simply isn't possible since 2 individuals assigned an ID who are eventually merged must result in a winner and loser. I know, stating the obvious to a community of MDM practitioners! :-)

    When I've introduced an Enterprise ID in the past, I favored using something that isn't easily consumable (e.g., a non-numeric identifier like the entity URI) and wrapped processes around the use of the ID to ensure the latest is used. That being said, I like Angela's use of a numeric value with survivorship being based on the minimum value. Not only does it reduce the frequency of change but it also tends to favor the "older" record.

    In either case, you have to expect the value to change and ensure downstream processes leverage the latest and correct value. Another obvious statement right!

    As for suspect records and the assignment of an ID, I'd say it depends on the reliability of the data source but typically an ID would be assigned regardless since the data source was worthy enough to be added to the MDM pool.

    If you are able to share, I'd love to know the driver behind the need for an Enterprise ID!

    ------------------------------
    David Starnes
    Director, Enterprise Information Management & Architecture
    RedHill Biopharma, Inc.
    Raleigh NC
    ------------------------------



  • 4.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 06-28-2021 17:49
    Establishing a "persistent" ID that identifies an individual that never changes is actually possible using surrogate crosswalks since the first individual assigned to an ID will become the persistent winner, and there will be no subsequent merges resulting in a winner and loser.

    In terms of what value makes the ideal Enterprise ID format, I do like using UUIDs for this, as they are very simple to generate and have an extreme level of uniqueness at scale. Using the Reltio built in generator has some pros and cons. When I last researched, the built in generator seemed ideal when you are working from a greenfield implementation, but was not very straightforward in a retrofit scenario.


    ------------------------------
    Walt Feldman
    Solutions Architect
    Tenerity
    ------------------------------



  • 5.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 06-28-2021 22:37
    Hi Walt,

    I understand that the winner's ID will persist but what about the loser? The loser was once a "winner" with a persistent ID assigned that becomes obsolete - unless I'm missing something.

    For example, say we have the following information today:
    • John Doe, 123 Anywhere St., Raleigh NC
    • Jonathan Doe, 456 Somewhere Dr., Cary NC
    Tomorrow, we obtain additional information that informs us that these 2 individuals are actually the same and the Raleigh NC address is no longer current. While the ID assigned to Jonathan will persist (the winner), the ID assigned to John (the loser) "disappears" as the record is merged together. Granted, we still have both identifiers within the merged record but the loser ID is no longer valid.

    For the format, I too tend to favor a UUID as it tends to force its use for systems only.  :-)

    As indicated in my original response, this topic tends to led to some interesting conversations and I look forward to your response!

    ------------------------------
    David Starnes
    Director, Enterprise Information Management & Architecture
    RedHill Biopharma, Inc.
    Raleigh NC
    ------------------------------



  • 6.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 06-29-2021 07:54
    Hi David,

    In my experience, there are 2 data load patterns to consider:

    1. Data is initially loaded without any strongly unique identifier value. It may or may not come in via subsequent loads. When the the same strongly unique identifier value is applied to to 2 or more individuals, they merge, resulting in a winner and a loser. Because both the winner and the loser were each assigned a different enterprise ID, the downstream systems all need to account for the merge event.

    2. The strongly unique identifier value is a mandatory attribute and is used as the surrogate crosswalk. The first individual to be loaded is assigned the enterprise ID. No merges ever happen, and there are no winners or losers. Subsequent loads behave like an "upsert" (i.e. John is updated to Jonathan). The enterprise ID is always fully persistent from Reltio to the downstream systems.

    I always advise the use of pattern 2 whenever possible.

    Regards,
    Walt

    ------------------------------
    Walt Feldman
    Solutions Architect
    Tenerity
    ------------------------------



  • 7.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 07-06-2021 09:23

    David,

    The main reason to assign an Enterprise ID is so that new systems or processes that use master data can reference this ID so that when those systems/processes assign its own ID Reltio does not have to try and match it because it already knows what the entity is based on the Enterprise ID.  If those systems and processes start using records that already have the Enterprise ID they have essentially already identified the entity they are working with and can supplement it with additional data based on survivorship rules within Reltio.

    Of course there are other opportunities as well such as using it for reporting purposes so that everyone consuming a given report can understand which entities across the enterprise are being referenced and reported on.

    Let me know if that makes sense and if you have a better way of approaching it.

    Thanks again for your insights.

    Regards,

    Brian



    ------------------------------
    Brian Beil
    Senior Manager, Provider MDM Operations
    Evernorth
    ------------------------------



  • 8.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 07-07-2021 11:43
    Hi Brian,

    I totally understand the need for an "enterprise" ID. Just curious, why not use the Entity ID?

    ------------------------------
    David Starnes
    Director, Enterprise Information Management & Architecture
    RedHill Biopharma, Inc.
    Raleigh NC
    ------------------------------



  • 9.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Founding Member
    Posted 07-07-2021 11:52
    Hi David,

    An Entity ID can be used as an Enterprise ID, but it does have three drawbacks:
    1. No way to generate an Entity ID outside of Reltio
    2. No way to edit the Entity ID if you need to perform surgery on a profile
    3. Highly case sensitive, so can cause issues if a downstream system does not honor the case (i.e. for sorting/unique-ing) 

    This is why I recommend using a GUID/UUID.

    Regards,
    Walt

    ------------------------------
    Walt Feldman
    Solutions Architect
    Tenerity
    ------------------------------



  • 10.  RE: Enterprise ID Sequence Generator Best Practices

    Posted 09-26-2023 13:26

    When it comes to Salesforce, the account id generated by Salesforce is the ID that's seeded in all downstream. I have rarely seen a Salesforce project where the team decided to generate their own  Enterprise ID. 



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    Anindya Jena
    Pure Storage
    Pleasanton CA
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