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Specifying A Source Key And Name

When you set the source key and source name, Insight can capture more useful information during transaction logging and key cross referencing.

Source Key

The source key is a value that uniquely identifies a specific source record. In most cases — but not all — each source record has such a unique value. Source Key Field(s) is the field or set of fields that together contain the source key value.

Insight uses the source key in the following ways:

Captured when logging a transaction for a source row
To allow the source record to be updated or deleted using Update/Delete Source Rows
To default the Source Key Field(s) for Key Cross Reference

Source Name

The source name is a human-readable, "friendly” identifier for a source record. Although the value may not be unique within the source records, it often helps a person to identify a record "on sight”. This name is especially important in cases where the source key is a system-assigned value without obvious meaning, such as a unique integer or a globally unique identifier. Source Name Field(s) is the field or set of fields that together contain the source name value.

For example, a CRM system might use a GUID (globally unique identifier) such as "{36083BF1-2658-48ee-AE6D-A2E9A0863AA8}” as a key for a customer record, while the record might have a CustomerName field of "Acme, Inc.”. There may in fact be several "Acme, Inc.” customers (with different addresses, etc.) with different keys, but the "Acme, Inc.” label helps a person to identify the record.

Insight uses the source name:

During logging a transaction for a source row.
To default the Source Name Field(s) for Key Cross Reference.

Configure Source Key and Source Name

Click the Source Keys... button in the Configure Source window.

If Insight is able to determine the source key field(s) or if they are specified by a source adapter, they are used by default. You should only change this value if you are sure they need to be different for your purposes.
If a source adapter specified the source name field(s), they are used. You can change them if you wish.

See Configuring Multifield Keys for a description of how to set the field(s) values.