Building Information Liquidity Diagrams

An information liquidity diagram provides a high-level graphical view of the liquidity of your information, including data sources, replications, and ETL operations.

You can create the following types of information liquidity diagrams:

• Replication diagram – lets you model the replication architecture of data contained in primary databases to remote databases using one or more replication processes. Replication processes contain publications and article definitions that describe the way in which data are replicated. Scripts can be generated for Replication Server and MobiLink engines. In the following example, data contained in the Consol database is replicated by a MobiLink replication process into the Remote database:

  
• Transformation diagram – is a high-level view to document ETL and EII transformations. This diagram shows input and output sources involved in a data transformation. The sources are linked to the transformation process, and are further specified in the data transformation diagram in which they are transformed and loaded to outputs. In the following example, data coming from Small Corp and Acme databases, Small Corp Role business process model, and Acme Role XML model are transformed and loaded to the Giant Corp database:

• Information Liquidity Diagram Objects
  You create the following objects in an information liquidity diagram:
• Creating an Information Liquidity Diagram
  You can create a physical diagram in an existing ILM in any of the following ways:
• Using the Mapping Editor for Replications
  You can use the Mapping Editor to create and visualize replications.
• Replicating Objects with the Replication Wizard
  The Replication Wizard is an easy way to replicate database objects (like tables, views, etc.) from a source database to one or more remote databases using a replication engine.
• Databases (ILM)
  A database is a data store based on one or more Physical Data Models (PDM), and which can be linked to:
• Servers (ILM)
  A server identifies a machine where a database, a replication process or a transformation process is deployed.
• XML Documents (ILM)
  An XML document is a data store, which contains data written under the XML format, and which can be associated with one or more XML Models (XSM) to describe it contents. The XML document can be linked to:
• Business Process (ILM)
  A business process is a data store, which contains data under a specific format, such as a web service for example, and which can be associated with one or more Business Process Model (BPMs) to describe its content. The business process can be linked to:
• Flat Files (ILM)
  A flat file contains data and the format of data. Data format can be specified by a custom separator, a fixed length, or by columns that you define with a name and a data type.
• Replication Processes (ILM)
  A replication process is a server engine that copies data from a given database into one or more databases or replication processes.
• Publications (ILM)
  A publication specifies published data or procedures for a data connection. You must specify a database connection incoming on its parent replication process before you can create a publication. When a data connection is deleted, all publications attached to it are deleted.
• Articles (ILM)
  An article is a table or a view to replicate, and can contain the following items:
• Columns (ILM)
  An article column is a table or view column to replicate. Article columns have no symbol in the diagram.
• Procedures (ILM)
  A procedure is a stored procedure from the source database. A stored procedure is a precompiled collection of SQL statements stored under a name and processed as a unit.
• Subscriptions (ILM)
  A subscription establishes a link between a publication and a database connection to define where data published via the publication must be replicated.
• Users (ILM)
  A user is a person involved in the replication process, and who is allowed to connect to the database.
• Data Connection Groups (ILM)
  A data connection group is a set of data connections that provides a relay in case the primary database goes down. Remote databases continue to get data from either primary or secondary data connections through the replication processes. You switch from a data connection to another in the Data Connection Group property sheet.
• Event Scripts (ILM)
  An event script allows you to define how events on the replication process or on an article are implemented. Event scripts have no symbol in the diagram.
• Process Connections (ILM)
  A process connection is a relationship that specifies the way data are moved between two replication processes.
• Data Connections (ILM)
  A data connection is a relationship that specifies the way data are copied between:
• Migrating Deprecated Model Container Objects into a Project
  PowerDesigner projects, a new way of organizing and representing the links between models, was introduced in version 15.0, and can represent your former ILM diagrams.