Import action Update vs Replace in workflow

[siowfong_chen]

Hi! Is it true that we should be using import action Update (all mapped fields) when processing data updates via import manager?

I found that if I set the impact action to Replace and when I run my workflow which does a check on old and new value (for price), the validation will fail. This is because the old and new value will be the same. However, if I use Update action, then the system will retain the old value. I find it strange that on checking out that the system is not retaining the old value of the data (regardless of whether I am using Replace or Update action).

Can someone please clarify?

Thanks!

SF

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi SF,

Replace Import action will Replace the old value with the new Value so their is no information of the Old value as the old value is now replaced with the new value.

In case of Update All mapped fields the system will Update the old values with the new values as per the new source file and so not all the records field values will change .Only the incoming records which have updated values in the source file will update all the mapped fields with new values.

In any of the case only the lates value will be saved under that particular field for the records so tracing the old and new values is not possible.

Even the workflow is always triggered after the record is already updated/Replaced in MDM and after the record is created they get checked out.

Note: In case you are using MDM 5.5 , Excel source file cannot be used with the Replace Import Action.

Hope it helps

Thanks & Regards

Simona Pinto

[siowfong_chen · Accepted solution]

Thanks to both Simona and Jitesh for the reply. In this case, what is the best way to check for price variance (of certain percentage) so that we can route the workflow for approval? I understand that there is a price field with 'Original' so would think that I can use the value from this field? That could be the reason why I can use Update but not Replace since the whole record would have been deleted and re-created whereas with Update, the original price should still be available for comparison?

Regards

SF

Edited by: SF on Mar 16, 2009 8:23 AM

Edited by: SF on Mar 16, 2009 8:24 AM

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi,

Yes you are correct, if you have a kind of backup field i.e. Original in your case which stores the previous value then you can use Update All in order to preserve this value for comparison while import action Replace will simply remove this value as well.

Regards,

Jitesh Talreja

[Former Member]

Hi,

The difference between Update ALL and Replace is:

Replace will delete the old record and create the new one with updated value and assign the new Record Id to the record

Update ALL will update the existing record with the new values and preserve the Record Id of the record

In case of Workflows, first the import action gets executed and then workflow gets launched i.e. if the existing records gets Replaced or Update and then workflow gets triggered and hence you wont get older values while performing validation step. To confirm this you can create a workflow which triggers on Record Add. Create the records using Import Manager, you will find that first the records get created and then workflow will get launched since workflows can be operated on the records present in the repository.

Regards,

Jitesh Talreja