Creating Data Classes: Favor the application's data needs first vs easier connectivity to a System of Record [LSA Data Excellence]

General
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Focus on the needs of the Application first (i.e. the Client’s business data model). Design the Classes and Data Model that the Application needs to the extent of having a working end-to-end Application that use Data Pages that represent the points where your Application will interact with the Systems of Record.

As of Pega 8.5 there is an “Import from Spreadsheet” option available when adding new Data Types to allow existing XLSX or CSV files containing existing business data to drive the new Data Type’s data model. This could potentially be used to create -Int- classes that model a data type from the Client’s System of Record.

Request and Response Data Transforms referenced by the Data Pages need to take responsibility for transforming between the business data model and the System of Record data model. JSON Data Transforms can now do this - in the absence of interface layer Class Models - where JSON messages interface data between Pega and the System of Record (like those typically used in REST integrations).

Discussion on this topic was sought from the LSA Data Excellence (Pega 8.4) webinar conducted in July 2020. The webinar and its full set of discussions that arose from it are available at LSA Data Excellence: Webinar, Questions & Answers.

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Create data classes based on what the application needs for the business first, not based on how the system of record is structured. Define the class structure so it fully supports the end-to-end use cases in the application. Use data pages to connect to external systems only at specific integration points. Keep the application data model clean and stable, even if external systems change. Handle all mapping between application data and system of record data using data transforms. This ensures the application remains easy to maintain and focused on business requirements.