Referencing data stored in custom repositories

[Johannes Lehtinen <johannes.lehtinen@rossum.fi>]

Hi! Regarding the following Action Item...

2012-01-25-3: Define way to reference custom reference data in repositories, e.g. to share it between Work Requests.

I propose the following approach. Once we have agreed on the approach, I will provide input as edits to the base line spec document.

I think there are two different use cases that needs to be covered.

1) Referring to reference data values stored in a specific custom repository to specify the valid alternatives for a multiple choice input field as part of Work Type Specification.

2) Referring to a reference data item value to be used as part of Work Request data. For example, referring to a document (attachment) or other large data set stored in a custom reference data repository from Work Request without having to include the actual data in the Work Request itself.

For the first use case, I propose the following.

APPROACH:

Within DataFieldSpecification type, in addition to already existing "Alternatives" property, add a new optional property "AlternativesRepositoryId" of type "Identifier":

DESCRIPTION (to be included in domain model chapter and an abbreviated version in DataFieldSpecification property description):

AlternativesRepositoryId specifies the identifier of a custom Reference Data Repository that includes the valid input value alternatives for this field as values of contained Reference Data Items. The values of contained Reference Data Items MAY be of type MultiChoiceAlternative containing an optional label in addition to the value or a plain value. The values MUST be compatible with the type of the field. The Implementation SHOULD ignore any contained Reference Data Items that specify incompatible values or values not satisfying the ValidationCondition of the field. The Implementation MUST NOT accept values other than the ones contained in the repository as Assignee provided input value for this field.

The Implementation SHOULD assist the Assignee in selecting one of the valid alternatives when asking input for the field. If the values are presented to the user as some sort of list then the alternatives SHOULD be sorted by their label (in case of MultiChoiceAlternatives with specified labels) or value. The Implementation SHOULD take into account that the repository may contain a large number of valid values, such as a list of valid product codes.

If the property Alternatives is present then the property AlternativesRepositoryId MUST be omitted.

For the second use case, I propose the following.

APPROACH:

In DataBindings specifying the data content for a Work Request or FIR, allow RDM References to be used in place of values.

In DataBinding, make the existing property "Value" optional and add a new optional property "ValueReference" of type "Reference" (reference to a Reference Data Item in a Reference Data Repository).

DESCRIPTION:

If Value is omitted and ValueReference is present then the value of the referred Reference Data Item MUST be used as it was included in the DataValue container of the Value property. If no such Reference Data Item exists then the Implementation MUST behave as if no value was specified at all.

DataBinding MUST contain either Value or ValueReference but not both.

The Implementation MUST always use Value and not ValueReference when communicating Assignee provided input data to the Manager, even when the user input is based on alternatives specified in a custom Reference Data Repository.

BR, Johannes

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Johannes Lehtinen
gsm +358 40 734 7049
Rossum Oy