The merge contributors view

In the merge contributors view you can see the source data that contributes to merged i2 Analyze records. By inspecting the view, you can gain an understanding about the data in your system and identify any rules to create that change the way that the property values are calculated.

To understand the merge contributors view, you must first understand the identifiers that the Information Store and i2 Analyze records use. For more information about i2 Analyze identifiers, see Identifiers in i2 Analyze records.

The merge contributors view contains the following details about each piece of source data:

• item_id

  Item identifiers are used to distinguish i2 Analyze records of a particular type uniquely within the Information Store. Multiple rows in the merge contributors view can have the same item identifier. Each row that has the same item identifier represents one piece of source data that contributed to the i2 Analyze record with that identifier.

  In the merge contributors view, the item identifier is stored in the item_id column.

• record_id

  Record identifiers distinguish i2 Analyze records uniquely throughout the deployment. In the merge contributors view, there is a one-to-one mapping between record identifiers and item identifiers.

  In the merge contributors view, the record identifier is stored in the record_id column.

• origin_id_type and origin_id_keys

  The origin identifier is used to reference data in its original source. Each piece of source data has a unique origin identifier.

  In the merge contributors view, the origin identifier is stored in the origin_id_type and origin_id_keys columns.

• source_last_updated

  When data is ingested into the Information Store, you can provide values for when the data was last updated in the data source from which it originated. The values in this column are used for the default source-last-updated-time behavior.

  In the merge contributors view, the last updated time is stored in the source_last_updated column.

• Property values

  There is a column for each property type in the i2 Analyze schema. Each column is the display name of the property type prefixed with p_.

  For example, values for the First Given Name property type for a Person entity type from the example law enforcement schema are stored in the p_first_given_name column.

• correlation_id_type and correlation_id_key

  The correlation identifier is used to indicate that data is about a specific real-world object. For multiple pieces of data to contribute to the same i2 Analyze record, they must have the same correlation identifier.

  In the merge contributors view, the correlation identifier is stored in the correlation_id_type and correlation_id_key columns.

• ingestion_source_name

  When data is ingested into the Information Store, you must provide a data source name that identifies the data source from which it originated. This is stored as the ingestion source name in the Information Store.

  In the merge contributors view, the ingestion source name is stored in the ingestion_source_name column.

In most scenarios, the origin_id_type, origin_id_keys, source_last_updated, and ingestion_source_name values can be used for choosing the source data to provide the property values.

The following table shows an example merge contributors view for a Person entity type where two pieces of source data contribute to the same i2 Analyze record:

In this example merge contributors view, you can see the following details:

• The data originates from two ingestion sources; DVLA and PNC

• The data from the PNC ingestion source was updated more recently than the data from the DVLA ingestion source

• The data from the PNC ingestion source is missing a value for the middle name property

You might already know some of these details about the data in your system, or you might be able to determine these differences from inspecting the contents of the view. If you decide that you want to change the default behavior for calculating property values, you must customize the merged property values definition view. For more information about how to customize the merged property values definition view, see The merged property values definition view.