Common Data Model

Pega Platform applications use entities to process cases to collect related case data.

For example, an application might contain an Account entity that you can use in two case types: one that allows the customer to transfer funds between bank accounts and one that allows the customer to change the address that is associated with their account. The Account entity includes fields that describe an account, such as Account Number, Current Balance, and Next Statement Date. Referencing the Account entity avoids the need to define account-related fields for each case type.

You can use an entity as many times as needed in your application. In the preceding example, the Transfer Funds case type can use the Account entity to model both the source and target accounts for the transfer.

The collection of entities and data objects in your application holistically defines the data model for your application.

The Common Data Model facilitates the reuse of data objects, case types, and data pages across one or more applications, which makes it easier to develop the data model for your application and maintain data in the appropriate system of record (SOR).

The Common Data Model uses the following features so that you can incorporate data into your Pega applications:

• Data virtualization separates how your business applications use data from how and when data is accessed.
• Pega Cloud® storage or integration with your data source is available for your data storage.
• Pre-built data and case types use consistent design patterns. Data objects and case types provide common error handling across cases, data pages, and APIs.
• Entity-based cases provide maintenance and process to your data and use case management and real-time, open APIs. Data page templates include operations to search, create, update, and annotate data.
• All the Constellation versions of Pega applications, such as Pega Customer Service™ and Pega Sales Automation™, use the Common Data Model.
• If you have multiple applications built on Pega Platform, using the Common Data Model lets you reuse data objects across applications and streamlines application development.

The Common Data Model includes the Data Portal through which you upload sample data and view the entities and objects with data records. Although the primary objective of the Data Portal is to facilitate development, you might find that portions of the portal help you to implement your own user interface.

You can use the data portal to view the default data objects and determine which data objects to use in your application.

The following figure shows the Data Portal with the Accounts landing page open. The Accounts entity defines fields for Name, Account ID, Value, and Relationship type for consumer accounts. The records shown on this page are from the imported sample data.

As a best practice, use the following approach to integrate the Common Data Model in a new application:

1. Install the Common Data Model as described in the installation guide.
2. Create an implementation application based on the Common Data Model. The new application inherits the components of the Common Data Model. For more information about creating your application, see Creating a new application in the Pega Common Application documentation. 
3. Use the Data Portal to review the available data objects and case types with the imported sample data.
4. Compare available objects to your required data.

   Map your application data to the Common Data Model. Use the Common Data Model entities as much as possible.

5. Extend the data objects in the Common Data Model to accommodate your application's data requirements.

   Maintain the design used by the Common Data Model. For more information, see the Extending the data model in Pega Common Application documentation.

6. Document your data model to enable the developers who maintain it.