When processing an additional field data set, Application Collaboration normally updates existing additional field values with the harvested data.
In certain situations, you may want Application Collaboration to completely clear the InterAction additional fields before populating them with the harvested data. You can do this with the replace data setting.
If this option is selected, Application Collaboration clears any previously-populated values for the fields before updating them with the harvested values. This only clears values that were previously populated using the data set. Field values that were entered directly in InterAction (using the Windows Client or the Web Client) are not cleared.
This is different than previous versions of Application Collaboration, which cleared the field values for all contacts, regardless of whether the values came from the external system.
For example, assume you select this option for a data set that populates the additional field Last Month’s Revenue. You harvest this data for 100 companies and transform the data.
The next time you harvest the data, if you only harvest the data for the 50 companies that changed, the Last Month’s Revenue field is still cleared for all 100 companies. After the transformation, only 50 companies have data in the field. However, if a user manually entered a value in the Last Month’s Revenue field for a company not included in the 100 populated from the external system, that value is not cleared.
The replace data option is useful when working with multiple-value additional fields, which often do not have unique ID’s for each individual field item in the external system. For details about this scenario, see Multiple Value Fields That Do Not Have Unique Identifiers for Each Value.
The replace data option can also be useful for single-value fields in special circumstances when data accuracy requires that the fields be cleared.
Things to Think About Before Selecting the Replace Data Option
Remember the following caveats if you decide to turn on the replace data option:
- You must harvest all the values every time, not just the changes.
Every transformation deletes and inserts many records in InterAction.
The replace data option applies to the entire data set. Therefore, if you have some additional fields that need it and some that do not, you need to set them up in separate data sets and harvest the data into separate tables.
Replacing Data for Single-Value Fields
In rare cases, you may want to use the replace data option with a single-value additional field. Note that you can frequently solve this problem in harvesting instead—using replace data should always be a last resort.
Replace data is useful for single-value fields in the following scenario:
- The field you are updating can change from a value to a blank value from one update to another. The data in InterAction therefore sometimes needs to be cleared.
AND
- For numeric fields, either your harvesting routine cannot retrieve the zero values, or changing the field to zero rather than blank would be inaccurate.
For example, assume you are using Application Collaboration to populate a field in InterAction called Last Month’s Revenue. For a given client, this might be a number, or it might be blank. Furthermore, it may need to change from a number to a blank in some months. Your harvesting routine can only retrieve the fields that have values greater than zero.
The client TeleNorth had a revenue of $4,000 in July. In August, your organization does no work for this client, so the revenue drops to 0.
Your harvesting routine retrieves a blank for the company TeleNorth. Therefore, if you do not choose the replace data option for updating this field, the $4,000 value remains after the updates in September. This value is incorrect, since there was no revenue for the client in August.
The better way to solve this problem (and avoid using replace data) is to design your harvesting routine to retrieve a 0 for these companies. Application Collaboration then correctly updates the $4,000 to 0.
Automatically Clear Additional Field Values Before Making Updates
- Select the data source in which the data set belongs from the console list.
- Right-click the additional field data set (
) or Single Value, Multiple Column Fields data set (
) and choose Edit.
- Select the Replace Data check box.
- Choose OK to save your changes.
- Update your harvesting routine to always harvest all the data, not just the changes, every time you harvest.