Objective
After completing this lesson, you will be able to perform a database backup and restore.
Data Manager Self-Service Overview
The Data Manager Self-Service application is a graphical interface that allows you to perform data backup and restore procedures. A backup is a copy of the database schema and data. This information can then be restored into the original or another database. These operations also support data migration between environments; for instance, when developing or testing new features.
Data Manager Self-Service is included with Incentive Management; however, to access it, the user must have permission to access the Data Manager application in the Incentive Management Portal.
To grant access to Data Manager Self-Service:
Steps
From the Incentive Management Portal, open the User Administration page.
Select a role.
Under the Permissions list, select Add.
Set the Type to Application.
Set the Asset to Data Manager.
Under Actions, enable the Access switch.
Select Save.
Result
Once access is granted, Data Manager Self-Service will appear in the application picker.
To start a new backup operation:
Steps
From the application picker, select Data Manager Self-Service.
Select Create New.
Select the backup settings:
Source Tenant is the environment you are using. This will be greyed out.
Backup Settings: Options are TCMP and EXT. TCMP contains all core Incentive Management schema objects, including tables, views, stored procedures, functions, packages, and synonyms., and EXT contains all custom (external) objects.
Backup Mode Options: Select Full, Calculation Results, Sales Portal Data, or None.
Select Backup Now.
To perform a database restore:
Steps
From the record of the successful backup, select the Restore button.
Select a target tenant.
Select Restore Now.
Perform Queries on Incentive Management Data with Data Explorer
Data Explorer
While most of the activities performed by the compensation administrator take place in the graphical user interface, in some cases it is necessary to query data that is not exposed to the user, such as data in EXT tables and log tables. In a production environment, operations teams can run ad hoc SQL queries on any tables in the data set using the Data Explorer, which is a component of the Data Manager Self-Service tool. This can be particularly helpful when troubleshooting production data, investigating performance issues or locating data that has been deleted or end-dated, since all records in these states can still be found in the database tables.
Once you have found the data needed for analysis, you can download the data to a .CSV or .XLS file.
The image below shows a simple example. In this scenario, the operations team would like to see which active positions are not assigned to a region, which is stored in the custom field genericattribute1. Using the SQL Query viewer in the Data Explorer, a simple query returns a list of names and regions.
Here are a few things to keep in mind when using the Data Explorer:
- Data Explorer is only a query tool. SQL commands such as INSERT and DELETE cannot be used to modify data.
- With an export limit of 1000 records, Data Explorer is not an ideal tool to extract large amounts of data.
- Data Explorer is ideal for simple queries. Queries will time out after 30 seconds, so very complex queries may not run in time.
- Only text PII fields are masked. Date and numeric fields are not masked, even if they are PII.
Summary
- Data Manager Self-Service is a tool for backing up and restoring database schemas and data, and for performing queries on native and custom tables.
- Data Manager Self-Service is included with Incentive Management, but must belong to a role with access to the solution in order to use it.
- Data Explorer is a tool that allows the administrator to perform SQL queries on data that is not exposed in the user interface, such as data in custom tables and log tables.
