You can login to the SDB Merge Tool in two modes:
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Differences not shown in hierarchy
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Show differences in hierarchy
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Non-CMS Data
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CMS Data
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English
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Industry
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The sub-modes, Selective Merge of Data and Complete Merge of Data, are enabled only after the completion of the database comparison between the source and target databases.
Differences not shown in hierarchy
When you log in using this mode, the object hierarchy does not have the functionality to filter the tree nodes based on the data filter options.
This mode is recommended if you want to merge a record or dataset from the source to the target database, and it is not recommended for performing a complete migration of the SDB database to SDB 12.6.
In the Differences not shown in hierarchy mode, the color coding is assigned to the hierarchy nodes as follows:
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All the Identical nodes and records are shown in black, whereas records with differences are shown in orange.
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If a node exists only in the source database, it is highlighted in blue, and the (S) tag is appended at the end of the record.
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If a node exists only in the target database, it is highlighted in blue, and the (T) tag is appended at the end of the record.
Show differences in hierarchy
When you log into the Show differences in hierarchy mode for the first time, a data comparison between the source and target databases must be done. You can choose to perform the comparison of CMS data and Non-CMS data separately or together based on your requirements. You can select the respective option and select Next to start the comparison process.
The comparison process might take several hours, depending on the data available in both the source and target databases.
You can cancel the comparison process at any stage by selecting Cancel on the progress form.
You can identify if the data comparison between source and target databases is complete from the Comparison Status label beside the Show differences in hierarchy mode:
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The Not Started comparison status indicates that the comparison of data between the source and target databases is not yet started, and the data will be compared if you select Next.
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The Completed comparison status indicates that the comparison of data between the source and target databases is complete, and you can use this option to start the merging operation.
After the completion of database comparison for CMS data or Non-CMS data, the following sub-modes are enabled under the Show differences in hierarchy mode for your selection for the compared data:
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Selective Merge of Data
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Complete Merge of Data
Complete Merge of Data is not enabled for the SDB to Non-SDB databases.
In the Differences shown in hierarchy mode, the color coding is assigned to the hierarchy nodes as follows:
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Nodes that have the same data and the child node hierarchy along with the data are displayed in black.
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If a node and its data exist only in the source database, it is shown in blue, and the (S) tag is added at the end of the node. If the entire hierarchy is Source only, the parent nodes until the leaf node level is displayed in blue.
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If a node and its data exist only in the target database, it is shown in blue, and the (T) tag is added at the end of the node. If the entire hierarchy is Target only, the parent nodes until the leaf node level is displayed in blue.
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If there is any difference in a node, in the data defined, or in any of the child nodes and their data, then the node is displayed in orange.
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If a node is skipped for comparison because the time taken to retrieve data from the database exceeded Timeout for DB Comparison, in the tree hierarchy, it is displayed in red. These nodes are also reported in the log file. You can select the node to view and merge data.
If a node is skipped during comparison, it is also skipped during the complete merge. You can manually navigate to such a node to view, merge the data, or compare to update the tree hierarchy.
In the object hierarchy, tree nodes are filtered based on the hierarchy filter options. You can filter Identical, Different, Source Only, and Target Only hierarchy nodes by selecting and clearing the checkboxes available in the hierarchy:
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Identical - Refers to the nodes that have the same data and the child nodes hierarchy along with the data.
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Different - Refers to the nodes that have different data, or their child nodes hierarchy along with the data.
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Source Only - Refers to the nodes and their data that exist only in the source database.
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Target Only - Refers to the nodes and their data that exist only in the target database.
Show differences in hierarchy is the preferred mode for a complete migration of the SDB 12.4 or 12.5 database to SDB 12.6.
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Multiple merge tool sessions that are connecting to the same source and target databases are not recommended to use.
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If multiple users log into the same source and target databases using the SDB Merge Tool and one user logs out from a session, all the other active sessions also get logged out automatically.
Clear Comparison Results
After the completion of the data comparison, the CLEAR COMPARISON RESULTS option is enabled, which allows you to clear all the comparison results between the source and target databases.
This functionality enables you to either:
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Restart the comparison process again or
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Clean up the comparison results after the migration is completed.
The clear comparison results process is irreversible. You must compare again the two databases to use Show differences in hierarchy.
Selective Merge of Data
If you select the Selective Merge of Data sub-mode and select Next, the Merge Tool User Interface displays the differences in the hierarchy. By selecting this mode, you can selectively merge a subset of data from the source to the target database.
For example, if you want to merge only a few commodity codes from the source to the target database, you can use this mode.
Complete Merge of Data
If you select Complete Merge of Data > Next, the complete merge process is initiated, and all the Source Only and Difference records will get merged into the target database from the source database.
The complete merge of data is an irreversible process and may take up to several hours, depending on the data available in the source and target databases.
You can identify if the merging process between the source and target databases is complete from the Complete Merge Status label located beside the Show differences in hierarchy mode:
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The Not Started status indicates that the complete merging of data between the source and target databases is not completed.
If the merging process is stopped by you at any point of time and resumed later by logging in to the same mode again, then the complete merge status is shown as Not started. You can resume the merging process by selecting Next, and the process continues from the point where it was stopped.
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The Completed status indicates that the merging of data between the source and target databases is complete. Now, the sub-modes under the Differences shown in hierarchy mode are disabled, and the Selective Merge of Data sub-mode is selected by default.
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If you select Next, the Merge Tool User Interface is displayed.
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After the completion of the merge process, the message "Complete Merge of data from the source database to target database is completed" is displayed. You can select View Log File to view the complete merge log file.
Complete Merge log file
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The complete merge log files are generated in HTML file format at the SDB Merge Tool location in the logs folder. The generated logs have the same hierarchical structure as the nodes in the merge tool. You can select each parent node and child node to navigate and view the changes made during the complete merge process in a tabular format.
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For the newly added data, the records display in a tabular format under each node in the log file.
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For difference records, the old and new records are shown side by side, similar to the Excel report format, and the difference cells are highlighted in orange.
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Errors, if any, are displayed in the log file with the error description. You can review the reported errors and resolve them in the target database.
The Merge Tool log displays after the complete merge of data as below:
Right Mouse Click (RMC) menu options on a tree hierarchy
The Show differences in hierarchy mode is provided with the following RMC menu options on the hierarchy nodes:
Mark Reviewed/Unmark Reviewed
Using this option, you can mark or unmark any node in the tree hierarchy as Reviewed. This enables you to identify the nodes under which you have already completed the merge process.
If you have marked a hierarchy node as Reviewed, you can hide that node from tree view by selecting Hide Reviewed, which is available at the top of the tree hierarchy. You can also see all the hidden reviewed nodes by selecting Show Reviewed.
Unmark reviewed for all child nodes
Using this option, you can unmark a specific node and all the child records under that node.
Re-compare Hierarchy
Whenever you merge data under a specific node, the comparison status of that node will be indicated as Node Category Not up to Date with the symbol . After all the merge activities are completed under a node, you can re-compare the node by selecting the Re-compare Hierarchy option from the RMC menu options.
This option will compare all the data under all child nodes present under the selected tree hierarchy node and apply the color coding to the tree nodes again according to the data differences between the source and target databases.
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Re-comparison of hierarchy nodes may take some time based on the data available under the selected node.
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You may face errors while re-comparing the data if any duplicate records exist under the selected node in the target database. You can proceed with the re-comparison of the data under a node after clearing the duplicate records.