Business Rules (Master Data Services)

A business rule is a rule that you use to ensure the accuracy of your master data.

Business rules are If/Then statements that you create in the Master Data Manager user interface (UI). If an attribute value meets a specified condition, then an action is taken. Possible actions include setting a default value, changing a value, or sending an e-mail notification.

To use business rules you must first create and publish your rules, then apply the published rules to data. You can apply rules to subsets of data or to all data for a version by validating the version. A version cannot be committed until all attributes pass business rule validation.

If a user attempts to add an attribute value doesn’t pass business rule validation, the value can still be saved. You can review and correct validation issues, which are displayed in the UI.

Business rules are applied in priority order, from lowest to highest. If a business rule is excluded or is not published with a status of Active, the rule is still available but is not included when business rules are applied.

Best Practice

If you create a business rule that uses the OR operator, consider creating a separate rule for each conditional statement that can be evaluated independently. You can then exclude rules as needed, providing more flexibility and easier troubleshooting.

Rules

  • Business rules apply to the attribute values for all leaf or all consolidated members, not both.

  • Business rules apply to all versions of a model.

  • When you create a model deployment package, if you want to include business rules you must include data from the version in the package.

Business Rule System Settings

There are two settings in Master Data Services Configuration Manager that affect the staging process. You can adjust these settings in Master Data Services Configuration Manager or directly in the System Settings table. For more information, see System Settings (Master Data Services).