Entities and case types

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 12 predefined entities, which manage different sets of information in the application.

Typical Pega applications work with case types and data types. Entities in the Common Data Model are modeled as create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) case types because they do not have a life cycle. Instead, they are used to represent objects in the system.

Case types

To view the case types, in App Studio, in the left navigation pane, click Case types.

Each entity in the Common Data Model maps to a case type, so there are also 12 case types. Case types provide templates for configuring the case types and data for your application.

The list shows the case type name and data objects that it uses. The Account case type uses data in the Account entity and references data in the Contact entity. The Account case type also uses data from the Email and Phone data objects.

When you click a case type name, the Workflow tab displays the case workflow. The case types in the Common Data Model contain a minimum workflow

Click the Data model tab to view the fields that comprise the Account entity. Fields can be data that resides in the Account entity, such as Account ID and Account name, data referenced from another entity, such as Contacts to account, or reference data used in picklists, such as Account type.

On the User Interface tab, you can build views to show and collect data to create or update an account. All the fields in the Account data model are available to use.

Applications use the case types in the Common Data Model to create, read, update, and delete data in the system of record. Alternatively, you can create a new case type and add the appropriate data objects from the Common Data Model. For example, if you add a Create New Account case type, you can add the Account data object to your case type. All the Account data objects are available to use in the new case type.

Data objects in App Studio

In App Studio, in the left navigation pane, click Data. The Data objects and integrations landing page lists each data object and shows any associated data pages and the system of record.

The page shows the 12 entities and supporting data objects that define reference data, data relationships, and systems of record.

The Common Data Model offers more than 100 predefined data objects that you can use to create your model and integrate data for your application.

A data object can define a list of fields. Consider the Address object, which contains fields for street address, city, and postal code.

A data object can define a relationship. For example, the Account_Contact object links an account with its associated contacts.

Data objects also define reference data. In this case, Account type defines the format fora list of the available account types.

You click a data object to show its associated assets. The Data Model tab lists the included fields.

On the Records tab, you can view the sample data that you saw in the Data Portal.

The User interface tab allows you to build views that you can use to show and collect Account data in your application.

The Data pages tab shows any data pages associated with the data object. The entities in the Common Data Model include two data pages that you can use to connect to the source data and to create, replace, update, and delete data. These data pages fetch and store data by using REST APIs.

Depending on your business needs, data pages can source their information from internal or external databases. This flexibility of approach ensures optimal reuse and better data management.

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