Data Portal

In a data model, entities describe an object, such as a person or an item, by grouping a set of related fields. Each entity becomes a table in the database. Products, accounts, and transactions are examples of potential entities in a data model. The Common Data Model contains predefined entities, which manage different sets of information in the application.

The Common application includes the Data Portal, in which you view the data model with sample data or real data if you are in a production application. The left pane presents a list of the available entities. You can select an entity, such as Consumer accounts, Contacts, or Statements, to view the data.

Use the Data Portal to browse the data model and see how the data relationships work. The sample data is for a telecommunications company that offers mobile phone and cable internet services. For example, on the Accounts landing page, you can view the data for consumer accounts. The organization of the Common Data Model is around the Customer Accounts entity, which is associated with a business, a household, or an individual consumer.

For each account record, the All customer accounts page shows Name, Account ID, and relationship type – the fields that are displayed are a subset of the fields that comprise the Customer account data. When you click an account name, the Details tab shows all the fields associated with the account.

Consider how you can use the fields in the Customer account entity in your application.

The Laura Smith account shows data such as the Account ID, Name, and account type -- information that is part of the Customer accounts entity. The account also shows an Email list, Phone list, and Address list; this data is linked to the Consumer accounts entity from the Contact entity.

Use the tabs to view related data, for example, Related contacts. In this case, the related contacts are members of Laura Smith's family. In the data model, a contact and its related fields are part of the Contact entity. The other entities can reference a contact as a separate entity. For example, the Customer account, Service account, and Location entities reference a contact.

You can view Related service accounts. The Laura Smith account shows that she subscribes to the Business Choice service. In the sample data, a service account represents types of telecom services. For example, Business Choice includes premium mobile and internet services. You can click Business Choice to view the fields for the service account. In the data model, the Service account entity contains the fields used to define the service and references both a contact and an account.

You add records to an entity by using the Create menu. For example, you can add a contact.

You have reached the end of this video. You have learned how to use the Data Portal to view data records and work with your data model.