Assets imported from InfoSphere Master Data Management

Assets that you import from InfoSphere® MDM are stored in the metadata repository. Knowing how MDM assets are stored makes it easier to manage them in suite tools.

The following table describes the assets that are imported into the metadata repository when you use the IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management bridge.

Table 1. Assets that are imported from MDM

Asset	Description
MDM model	A representation of physical master data assets or virtual master data assets from InfoSphere Master Data Management. For physical master data assets, master data is created in, stored in, and accessed from a central system. For virtual master data assets, master data is maintained in a distributed fashion and remains fragmented across systems but with a central indexing service.
Member type	Defines the kind of member data that is stored and managed in InfoSphere MDM. Defining member types enables products for use in multiple business environments.
Member attribute	A predefined type that is packaged with the InfoSphere MDM software. For example MemName, MemAddr, and MemIdent are all predefined attribute types. To allow for flexibility at customer sites, implementers can add member attribute implementation-defined attribute types.
Attribute type	An attribute type. Coincides with the InfoSphere MDM data schema to define operational server behavior and member information. Two types of attribute types are available in InfoSphere MDM: member attribute types and relationship attributes type. Only member attribute types are imported into InfoSphere Information Server.
Attribute type field	A field of a member attribute type.
Entity	A single unique object in the real world that is being mastered. Examples of an entity are a single person, single product, or single organization.
Entity type	A person, organization, object type, or concept about which information is stored. An entity type describes the type of the information that is being mastered. An entity type typically corresponds to one or several related tables in a database.
Attribute	A characteristic or trait of an entity type that describes the entity. For example, the Person entity type has the Date of Birth attribute.
Composite view	A defined way of displaying attribute information. For example the views might be either enterprise most current attribute or source-specific attribute values for a person.
Physical object	A master data asset for the physical MDM model. Address, Party, or Claim are sample objects with a defined set of attributes. InfoSphere MDM creates instances of physical objects and allows consumers to retrieve or manipulate these instances through services.
Physical object attribute	A single property of a physical object.
Host	A computer where a database or data file exists.
Database	A relational storage collection that is organized by schemas and procedures. A database stores data that is represented by tables.
Database schema	A named collection of related database tables and integrity constraints. A schema defines all or a subset of the data that is in a database. A database schema can implement a logical data model or a physical data model.
Database table	A structure for representing and storing data objects in a database. A database table can implement a logical entity or a design table.
Database column	A column in a database table. A database column can implement an entity attribute or a design column.