Business object physical representation

A business object is composed from many elements:

■    one or more database tables

■    a schema definition

■    a database view

Database tables

At the lowest level, business objects represent a database table or tables. Business objects can represent one table, or multiple tables. BOD builds lists of tables that exist in the database; it does not create tables initially.

Note: Tables must be created using SQL Server Enterprise Manager or Query Analyzer.

Schema definition

The schema definition of a business object is stored in the iMIS database. You access the business object using the Document System. The schema definition defines all properties and their types, and is used to create the in-memory runtime representation of the object.

Database view

A database view is created to represent data access for a business object, containing all the necessary tables, columns, and joins. The view is used when running queries against business objects. The naming convention is vBo<BusinessObjectName>. For example, vBoAccessArea is the view associated with the AccessArea business object.