Data from source systems coexist with user-entered data as separate records in the TCA Registry. For the party profile entities, Organization Profile and Person Profile, you can set up a Single Source of Truth (SST) record for a single view of the most accurate party profile information across data sources. The attributes in the SST record can contain information from different data sources, depending on the defined display rules.
Note: If the TCA Registry does not contain data from source systems, then you do not need to set up Single Source of Truth.
Oracle applications display and use the Single Source of Truth record for organization and person party profile information. If SST is not set up, or if the setup does not allow for data from source systems, then Oracle applications always use the user-entered information.
Note: Even though source system data, for example all purchased data from D&B, are stored in TCA tables, some information might not appear in user interfaces, based on SST display rules.
Display rules determine how the Single Source of Truth record gets its attribute values. For each attribute, you define the rule based on a display method:
Rank: Attribute value is from the highest ranked data source that contains data.
For example, D&B is ranked as the highest source for the D-U-N-S Number attribute, followed by user entered. For party 1, if both D&B and user-entered records have a D-U-N-S Number attribute value, then the SST record takes the value from D&B. If party 2 has only a user-entered record, then the user-entered D-U-N-S Number is used.
Note: If no data source has a value for a specific attribute, Oracle applications display nothing and the user can enter a value for that attribute.
Date: Attribute value is from the data source with the most recently updated value.
For each party in the TCA Registry, Oracle applications uses the SST display rule for each attribute to determine the value to display in user interfaces.
To maintain accurate information in the TCA Registry, you can define rules that control data overwrite in the SST record. Overwrite rules do not apply to attributes defined with the Date display method.
Note: Only source systems ranked higher than User Entered can be included in these rules.
User overwrite rules: Determine user privileges to overwrite data from source systems in the SST record.
For example, data sources are ranked as follows for the Last Name attribute:
D&B
User Entered
Gorman
For a specific party, the user-entered value is Smyth, and the D&B value is Smith. Due to the ranking, Smith is used as the SST value in Oracle applications.
Only D&B, ranked higher than User Entered, is available for user overwrite rules, and a rule is defined to allow users to overwrite last names from D&B. If this rule is assigned to Joe, then he can overwrite the SST last name Smith with Smythe in an Oracle application. The user-entered and SST records now have Smythe, and the D&B record remains with Smith.
Attention: If a user is not assigned to a user overwrite rule, then the default behavior allows him to overwrite all SST values, even those from a data source ranked higher than User Entered. To enforce the data source ranking, you must create and assign a user overwrite rule that prevents overwrite of all data sources ranked higher than User Entered.
For example, you can create one user overwrite rule that prevents overwrite of all data sources, for all attributes with the Rank display method. Essentially, the rule mirrors and enforces the display rule for all those attributes. Assign this rule to the site level, so that it applies to all users by default. For the above example, this rule would prevent overwrite of D&B values for the Last Name attribute.
If you want to allow overwrite for specific users, you can then define additional user overwrite rules as desired, and assign the rules at the user or responsibility level. For the above example, you would create a rule that allows overwrite of last names from D&B, and assign the rule to Joe or his responsibilities.
Source system overwrite rules: Determine which source systems can provide new data and overwrite existing user-entered data in the SST record. The rules apply only to user-entered data that previously overwrote source system data, according to user overwrite rules.
For example, Joe has overwritten the D&B value for the Last Name attribute in the SST record, as the user overwrite rule assigned to him allows. Only D&B, ranked higher than User Entered, is available for the source system overwrite rule, and the rule for Last Name grants D&B overwrite privileges.
If a new last name, Smeeth, is acquired from D&B for that party, then Smeeth will overwrite Joe's value, Smythe in the SST record, and replace Smith in the D&B record. The user-entered record with Smythe is untouched.
If source system overwrite is not allowed for D&B, then Smeeth replaces only Smith in the D&B record. The SST and user-entered record remain with Smythe.
Note: The source system value does not overwrite the user-entered value if the source system value has not changed, for example, if the newly acquired D&B data still has Smith as the last name.