Maintaining record and entity linkages

From the master data explorer search results screen, data stewards can manually join, unlink, move, or delete record and entity data.

The available maintenance actions differ depending on whether you are working with an entity or a record, and whether the record is considered the center record. Center records are the oldest records in the entity, and are the basis around which the entity is built. Center records cannot be unlinked or moved from their entities.

For example, by using the master data explorer, you can:

Join two or more entities into a single entity.
Move a record from one entity to another. You cannot move a center record.
Unlink a record from an entity to form a new, singleton entity. You cannot unlink a center record.
Delete a record or entity. If you delete a center record, the system assigns a new center record for the entity.

You can complete the record and entity linkage maintenance actions from within your search results by using either the table view or the graph view.

Maintaining records and entities by using the table view

To maintain record and entity linkages by using the table view:

From the navigation menu, click Master data explorer to open the master data explorer.
Search for the data that you want to work with. For more information, see Searching for master data. The results are shown in a table view by default.
Access the actions menu by scrolling to the end of the row of data you want to update. Click the action option that you want to take:

Join - If the table row represents an entity, you can join it with another entity.

a. Click Join.

b. Use the table view to select a different entity that you want to join with the current entity. Click the other entity's table row.

c. Review the details of the join action, then click Join to complete the action.

Move - If the table row represents a record, you can move the record to a different entity.

a. Click Move.

b. Use the table view to select a different entity that you want the current record to move to. Click the entity's table row.

c. Review the details of the move action, then click Move to complete the action.

Unlink - If the table row represents a record, you can unlink it from the current entity to create a new, singleton entity.

a. Click Unlink.

b. Review the details of the unlink action, then click Unlink to complete the action.

Delete - If the table row represents a record, you can delete it from the database.

a. Click the Delete icon.

b. Review the details of the delete action, then click Delete to complete the action.

To delete an entity, remove all of its member records.

Maintaining records and entities by using the graph view

To maintain record and entity linkages from the graph view's relationship map:

From the navigation menu, click Master data explorer to open the master data explorer.
Search for the data that you want to work with. For more information, see Searching for master data. The results are shown in a table view by default. Click the Show graph icon .
From the graph view, locate the record or entity that you want to update.
Hover over the record or entity node to see the available actions that you can take.

Join - If the node represents an entity, you can join it with another entity.

a. Click the Join icon.

b. Use the graph view to select a different entity that you want to join with the current entity.

c. Review the details of the join action, then click Join to complete the action.|

Move - If the node represents a record, you can move the record to a different entity.

a. Click the Move icon.

b. Use the graph view to select a different entity that you want the current record to move to.

c. Review the details of the move action, then click Move to complete the action.

Unlink: If the node represents a record, you can unlink it from the current entity to create a new, singleton entity.

a. Click the Unlink icon.

b. Review the details of the unlink action, then click Unlink to complete the action.

Delete - If the node represents a record, you can delete it from the database.

a. Click the Delete icon.

b. Review the details of the delete action, then click Delete to complete the action.

To delete an entity, remove all of its member records.

Next steps

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Parent topic: Exploring master data