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New Features and Enhancements

This section describes new features and enhancements to PowerCenter 7.0.
Data Profiling
If you purchase the Data Profiling option, you can profile source data to evaluate source
data and detect patterns and exceptions. For example, you can determine implicit data
type, suggest candidate keys, detect data patterns, and evaluate join criteria. After you
create a profiling warehouse, you can create profiling mappings and run sessions. Then
you can view reports based on the profile data in the profiling warehouse.
The PowerCenter Client provides a Profile Manager and a Profile Wizard to complete
these tasks.
Data Integration Web Services
You can use Data Integration Web Services to write applications to communicate with the
PowerCenter Server. Data Integration Web Services is a web-enabled version of the
PowerCenter Server functionality available through Load Manager and Metadata
Exchange. It is comprised of two services for communication with the PowerCenter
Server, Load Manager and Metadata Exchange Web Services running on the Web
Services Hub.
Documentation
Glossary. The Installation and Configuration Guide contains a glossary of new
PowerCenter terms.
Installation and Configuration Guide. The connectivity information in the Installation
and Configuration Guide is consolidated into two chapters. This book now contains
chapters titled “Connecting to Databases from Windows” and “Connecting to Databases
from UNIX.”
Upgrading metadata. The Installation and Configuration Guide now contains a chapter
titled “Upgrading Repository Metadata.” This chapter describes changes to repository
objects impacted by the upgrade process. The change in functionality for existing objects
depends on the version of the existing objects. Consult the upgrade information in this
chapter for each upgraded object to determine whether the upgrade applies to your
current version of PowerCenter.
Functions
Soundex. The Soundex function encodes a string value into a four-character string.
SOUNDEX works for characters in the English alphabet (A-Z). It uses the first character
of the input string as the first character in the return value and encodes the remaining
three unique consonants as numbers.
Metaphone. The Metaphone function encodes string values. You can specify the length
of the string that you want to encode. METAPHONE encodes characters of the English
language alphabet (A-Z). It encodes both uppercase and lowercase letters in uppercase.
Installation
Remote PowerCenter Client installation. You can create a control file containing
installation information, and distribute it to other users to install the PowerCenter Client.
You access the Informatica installation CD from the command line to create the control
file and install the product.
PowerCenter Metadata Reporter
PowerCenter Metadata Reporter replaces Runtime Metadata Reporter and Informatica
Metadata Reporter. PowerCenter Metadata Reporter includes the following features:
Metadata browsing. You can use PowerCenter Metadata Reporter to browse
PowerCenter 7.0 metadata, such as workflows, worklets, mappings, source and target
tables, and transformations.
Metadata analysis. You can use PowerCenter Metadata Reporter to analyze operational
metadata, including session load time, server load, session completion status, session
errors, and warehouse growth.
PowerCenter Server
DB2 bulk loading. You can enable bulk loading when you load to IBM DB2 8.1.
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Distributed processing. If you purchase the Server Grid option, you can group
PowerCenter Servers registered to the same repository into a server grid. In a server
grid, PowerCenter Servers balance the workload among all the servers in the grid.
Row error logging. The session configuration object has new properties that allow you
to define error logging. You can choose to log row errors in a central location to help
understand the cause and source of errors.
External loading enhancements. When using external loaders on Windows, you can
now choose to load from a named pipe. When using external loaders on UNIX, you can
now choose to load from staged files.
External loading using Teradata Warehouse Builder. You can use Teradata
Warehouse Builder to load to Teradata. You can choose to insert, update, upsert, or
delete data. Additionally, Teradata Warehouse Builder can simultaneously read from
multiple sources and load data into one or more tables.
Mixed mode processing for Teradata external loaders. You can now use data driven
load mode with Teradata external loaders. When you select data driven loading, the
PowerCenter Server flags rows for insert, delete, or update. It writes a column in the
target file or named pipe to indicate the update strategy. The control file uses these
values to determine how to load data to the target.
Concurrent processing. The PowerCenter Server now reads data concurrently from
sources within a target load order group. This enables more efficient joins with minimal
usage of memory and disk cache.
Real time processing enhancements. You can now use real time processing in
sessions that also process active transformations, such as the Aggregator
transformation. You can apply the transformation logic to rows defined by transaction
boundaries.
Repository Server
Object export and import enhancements. You can now export and import objects
using the Repository Manager and pmrep. You can export and import multiple objects
and objects types. You can export and import objects with or without their dependent
objects. You can also export objects from a query result or objects history.
pmrep commands. You can use pmrep to perform change management tasks such as
maintaining deployment groups and labels, checking in, deploying, importing, exporting,
and listing objects. You can also use pmrep to run queries. The deployment and object
import commands require you to use a control file to define options and resolve conflicts.
Trusted connections. You can now use a Microsoft SQL Server trusted connection to
connect to the repository.
Security
LDAP user authentication. You can now use default repository user authentication or
Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) to authenticate users. If you use LDAP,
the repository maintains an association between your repository user name and your
external login name. When you log in to the repository, the security module passes your
login name to the external directory for authentication. The repository maintains a status
for each user. You can now enable or disable users from accessing the repository by
changing the status. You do not have to delete user names from the repository.
Use Repository Manager privilege. The Use Repository Manager privilege allows you
to perform tasks in the Repository Manager such as copy object, maintain labels, and
change object status. You can perform the same tasks in the Designer and Workflow
Manager if you have the Use Designer and Use Workflow Manager privileges,
respectively.
Audit trail. You can track changes to repository users, groups, privileges, and
permissions through the Repository Administration Console. The Repository Agent logs
security changes to a log file stored in the Repository Server installation directory. The
audit trail log contains information such as changes to folder properties, adding or
removing a user or group, and adding or removing privileges.
Transformations
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Custom transformation. Custom transformations operate in conjunction with

procedures you create outside of the Designer interface to extend PowerCenter
functionality. The Custom transformation replaces the Advanced External Procedure
transformation. You can create Custom transformations with multiple input and output
groups, and you can compile the procedure with any C or C++ compiler.
You can create templates that customize the appearance and available properties of a
Custom transformation you develop. You can specify the icons used for transformation,
the colors, and the properties a mapping developer can modify. When you create a
Custom transformation template, distribute the template with the DLL or shared library
you develop.
Joiner transformation. You can use the Joiner transformation to join two data streams
that originate from the same source.
Version Control
The PowerCenter Client and repository introduce features that allow you to create and
manage multiple versions of objects in the repository. Version control allows you to
maintain multiple versions of an object, control development on the object, track changes,
and use deployment groups to copy specific groups of objects from one repository to
another. Version control in PowerCenter includes the following features:
Object versioning. Individual objects in the repository are now versioned. This allows
you to store multiple copies of a given object during the development cycle. Each version
is a separate object with unique properties.
Check out and check in versioned objects. You can check out and reserve an object
you want to edit, and check in the object when you are ready to create a new version of
the object in the repository.
Compare objects. The Repository Manager and Workflow Manager allow you to
compare two repository objects of the same type to identify differences between them.
You can compare Designer objects and Workflow Manager objects in the Repository
Manager. You can compare tasks, sessions, worklets, and workflows in the Workflow
Manager. The PowerCenter Client tools allow you to compare objects across open
folders and repositories. You can also compare different versions of the same object.
Delete or purge a version. You can delete an object from view and continue to store it in
the repository. You can recover, or undelete, deleted objects. If you want to permanently
remove an object version, you can purge it from the repository.
Deployment. Unlike copying a folder, copying a deployment group allows you to copy a
select number of objects from multiple folders in the source repository to multiple folders
in the target repository. This gives you greater control over the specific objects copied
from one repository to another.
Deployment groups. You can create a deployment group that contains references to
objects from multiple folders across the repository. You can create a static deployment
group that you manually add objects to, or create a dynamic deployment group that uses
a query to populate the group.
Labels. A label is an object that you can apply to versioned objects in the repository. This
allows you to associate multiple objects in groups defined by the label. You can use
labels to track versioned objects during development, improve query results, and
organize groups of objects for deployment or export and import.
Queries. You can create a query that specifies conditions to search for objects in the
repository. You can save queries for later use. You can make a private query, or you can
share it with all users in the repository.
Track changes to an object. You can view a history that includes all versions of an
object and compare any version of the object in the history to any other version. This
allows you to see the changes made to an object over time.
XML Support
PowerCenter contains XML features that allow you to validate an XML file against an
XML schema, declare multiple namespaces, use XPath to locate XML nodes, increase
performance for large XML files, format your XML file output for increased readability,
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and parse or generate XML data from various sources. XML support in PowerCenter
includes the following features:
XML schema. You can use an XML schema to validate an XML file and to generate
source and target definitions. XML schemas allow you to declare multiple namespaces so
you can use prefixes for elements and attributes. XML schemas also allow you to define
some complex datatypes.
XPath support. The XML wizard allows you to view the structure of XML schema. You
can use XPath to locate XML nodes.
Increased performance for large XML files. When you process an XML file or stream,
you can set commits and periodically flush XML data to the target instead of writing all
the output at the end of the session. You can choose to append the data to the same
target file or create a new target file after each flush.
XML target enhancements. You can format the XML target file so that you can easily
view the XML file in a text editor. You can also configure the PowerCenter Server to not
output empty elements to the XML target.
Usability
Copying objects. You can now copy objects from all the PowerCenter Client tools using
the copy wizard to resolve conflicts. You can copy objects within folders, to other folders,
and to different repositories. Within the Designer, you can also copy segments of
mappings to a workspace in a new folder or repository.
Comparing objects. You can compare workflows and tasks from the Workflow Manager.
You can also compare all objects from within the Repository Manager.
Change propagation. When you edit a a port in a mapping, you can choose to
propagate changed attributes throughout the mapping. The Designer propagates ports,
expressions, and conditions based on the direction that you propagate and the attributes
you choose to propagate.
Enhanced partitioning interface. The Session Wizard is enhanced to provide a
graphical depiction of a mapping when you configure partitioning.
Revert to saved. You can now revert to the last saved version of an object in the
Workflow Manager. When you do this, the Workflow Manager accesses the repository to
retrieve the last-saved version of the object.
Enhanced validation messages. The PowerCenter Client writes messages in the
Output window that describe why it invalidated a mapping or workflow when you modify a
dependent object.
Validate multiple objects. You can validate multiple objects in the repository without
fetching them into the workspace. You can save and optionally check in objects that
change from invalid to valid status as a result of the validation. You can validate
sessions, mappings, mapplets, workflows, and worklets.
View dependencies. Before you edit or delete versioned objects, such as sources,
targets, mappings, or workflows, you can view dependencies to see the impact on other
objects. You can view parent and child dependencies, and global shortcuts across
repositories. Viewing dependencies assists you in modifying objects and composite
objects without breaking dependencies.

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