Documenting data model

Each process includes information from one or several info areas. You should document which info areas are displayed in which processes, the index used to sort and select records and any restrictions that apply.

Remember to consider how the info areas are related to one another in Aurea CRM; i.e. which info areas are parents and which are children. An overview of the data model for each version is available as a separate PDF document.

You can display existing data in a new form; e.g. displaying the top ten companies by revenue. However, some applications may require you to configure the data model to meet the requirements of the workflow. For example, if you add a problem resolution record and want to associate any number of contact records with it, you need to save the problem resolution record in the database. Furthermore, you need to enter its key in the associated contact records.

If you edit the data model itself, you should document any such changes and provide a description of the new data model.

Types of links

  1. 1:1links

    Occur rarely, as it generally makes more sense to integrate this type of information in a single info area.

    Example: Offer and Order

  2. 1:n links

    Examples: Company - Persons; Activity - Contacts; Questionnaire - Surveys; etc.

  3. n:m links

    n:m links can only be implemented by using a third info area. For example, using the Contact info area, you could associate a person with several activities and an activity with several persons. This is possible because contacts are linked to both persons and activities, and both persons and activities can be linked to several contacts. In this sense, an n:n link is a 'double' 1:n link.

    If required, you can add an info area to the data model to establish an n:m link between two info areas.

Note: Not all links in Aurea CRM are used in both directions. There is no function used to display the activities to which a person or contact is assigned, for example, or the contact linked to a survey. The first case is technically feasible, in the second case, the contact record does not include a suitable index.

Searching in the datamodel

Aurea CRM allows you to search according to those fields for which there are indexes (e.g. the company name, synonym, address and group from the company search). If you want to search within your data model:

  • either use indexes,
  • or limit the volume of data that is searched.