Creating and Managing Transformations

You can create Transformations to support your m3ter Workflows. Transformations allow you to customize the conversion of data as it flows into or out of the m3ter system via Workflows. A Transformation defines a one-way data mapping from one specific data type to another:

• When you are building your Workflows, you can use functions that reference Transformations.
• If you’ve created a Transformation and you want to create a second Transformation that is the same or very similar to the first, you can export the output fields of the first and import them into the second.

This topic explains how to create, review, and manage Transformations:

• Creating Transformations
• Reviewing and Managing Transformations
• Exporting and Importing Transformation Output Fields

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Creating Transformations

In the Console, you can quickly create any Transformations you need to support your m3ter Workflows. To create a Transformation:

1. Select mesh:

The Workflows page opens.

2. On the sidebar, select Transformations:

The Transformations page opens and lists any existing Transformations.

3. Select Create transformation. The Create page opens.
4. Enter the Transformation details:

• Name. (Required)
• Description. (Required)

5. Enter the Transformation settings:

• Input system. Select the input system. (Required)
• Input table. Select the table in the selected input system. (Required)
• Output system. Select the output system. (Required)
• Output table. Select the table in the selected output system. (Required)

In this example, a Transformation defines that m3ter Account entities will be mapped to NetSuite Customer objects.

6. To define output fields for the Transformation, on the Output fields panel select Add output field. The panel adjusts and you can enter the details of an output field.

Three types of Transformation method are available for defining output fields:

• Field lookup. A direct mapping from the source object into the destination field. (Default)
• Calculation. For more advanced scenarios, you can leverage m3ter’s Calculation Engine to set values at runtime.
• Static value. The defined field is set on the destination object with the same value.

For the current example, we’ll use the Field lookup method to define how two values will be determined for the output fields:

• Enter a Field key value, and then use the Input field drop-down list to select the field on the entity, which in the current example is the m3ter Account entity:

• Repeat for any other Field value transformations:
• For the current example, we’ll also add a Static value transformation:

7. On the Output fields panel, select Preview output. A Transformation output preview modal opens:

You can use this to:

• Review and edit the Input data JSON for the Output fields you’ve defined.
• Select Generate output and review the Output that will result from the Transformation:

8. When you are happy with the generated Output, close the Transformation output preview modal.
9. Select Create transformation. The Transformation details page opens:

Note that you can:

• Review the Output fields you’ve set up for the Transformation.
• Use the Export button to open and copy the Transformation’s output fields for importing into other Transformations.

10. If you return to the Transformations page, your new Transformation will be listed there.

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Reviewing and Managing Transformations

From the Transformations page, you can quickly review the details of a Transformation and edit or delete it. To review and manage Transformations:

1. Open the m3sh section and select Transformations. The Transformations page opens.
2. If you want to view the details of a Transformation, select the Name hotlink text:

The Transformation details page opens.

3. If you want to update the Transformation, select Edit. Make any required changes on the Edit page and select Update transformation.
4. If you want to delete a Transformation, return the Transformations page and select the Delete icon:

A confirmation dialog appears:

5. Select Delete to confirm the delete action.

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Exporting and Importing Transformation Output Fields

When you have set up a Transformation, you might want to re-use the output fields of the Transformation for other Transformations in your Organization. To export and import Transformation output fields:

1. Open the Transformation details page of the existing Transformation whose output fields you want to re-use.
2. Select Export. An Export transformation modal opens:

3. Select Copy. The output fields are copied to your clipboard.
4. Open the Transformation details page of the Transformation you want to re-use the output fields for:

• Note that the Transformation already has a Static value field set up.

5. Select Edit.
6. On the Output fields panel of the Edit page, select Import. An Import transformation modal opens.
7. Paste the copied output fields into the modal:

8. Select Submit. The imported fields are added to the Output fields panel.

• Note that if you’ve already added output fields to the Transformation, these will be overwritten by the imported fields and you’ll have to add them again after importing.

9. Select Update transformation. The Transformation details page opens:

• We can see that the copied Output fields have been successfully imported and the existing Output field overridden.