Reference data options in CDM

Reference data is used to define and classify other data. In the Pega Common Data Model, data that is used to source a picklist is referred to as reference data. The Pega Common Data Model offers a large set of pre-defined reference data for objects like countries, states, currencies, account types, contact types and so on.

When identifying reference data that your application will use, first review the existing data. For example, for a picklist that displays a list of countries, you can use the pre-defined Countries data object. Using an existing reference data object gives you the data values and the underlying Pega rules and objects used to integrate the data with your application.

For example, the reference data object named PaymentMethod provides a list of payment methods that you can use in your application, and the associated Data Page and Data Transforms. The values include payment methods such as credit card, check, electronic funds transfer (EFT), or Bank account.

When developing your application, you can use the PaymentMethod data object in a workflow. For example, in the GoGoRoad application, the AssistanceRequest workflow uses PaymentMethod from the CDM reference data object. The following figure shows the View for the Create Assistance Request case. The Payment method dropdown list is populated with the instances from the reference data object.

Reference data objects inherit from Common-LDM-Reference. In the App explorer, you can browse the provided reference data lists, as shown in the following figure:

You have several options for developing your reference data:

• Use an existing reference data object.
• Add records to an existing list.
• Create a new reference data object in the main reference data class, Common-LDM-Reference.
• Create a standalone data object with its own Data Page for a new list.

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This Topic is available in the following Module:

• Reference data v1