Data Transformation Engine Getting Started

Chapter 1 - Introduction
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♦ Type Tree Maker – The Type Tree Maker allows you to create their own importers. It is a scripting
tool that can be used to automate the capture of metadata from machine-processible sources to
create graphical metadata for use in Mercator products.
♦ Map Designer – The Map Designer uses the definitions of data objects created in the Type
Designer to specify the rules for the transformation and routing of data. Maps are analyzed,
compiled, and tested using the Map Designer.
♦ Integration Flow Designer – The Integration Flow Designer is a modeling component for
definition and management for systems of Mercator maps. It is used to define interactions among
maps and systems of maps, to validate the logical consistency of workflows, and to prepare maps to
run.
♦ Standard Type Tree Collections – The type tree collections are a series of type trees that define
the major releases of the UN/EDIFACT EDI standards, ANSI X12 EDI standards, HL7 healthcare
standards and ACORD insurance standards.
The following figure shows the relationships between some of the Design Studio components:
Mercator Adapters
Adapters allow you to obtain input data for transformations from various types of data sources, and
deliver the transformed output data to various types of data destinations. Maps often use different
adapters for input and output. In some cases, maps use multiple inputs and/or multiple outputs. In such
cases, three or more adapters may be involved.
Design Workstation
Importers
Type
Designer
Map
Designer
Type
Tree
Map
(1)
(4) (4)
Metadata for
Applications & Databases
(
2
)
(2)
Standard
Type
Trees
(
3
)
The Type Designer (1) is used to define data formats interactively. Importers (2) are a feature of the Type Designer and provide the
ability to automatically generate type trees from metadata available for certain data sources. Type Trees for standardized messages (3)
such as HL7, EDI and S.W.I.F.T. are available ready-to-use. The Map Designer (4) is used to define the transformation rules for
generating one or more outputs from one or more inputs. The type trees for the inputs and outputs must be defined before using the Map
Designer.