Optim™ components have many features and utilities in common.
Features common to all Optim components, Archive, Move, Edit, and Compare, are explained in the Common Elements Manual .
To carry out its functions, Optim relies upon user‑defined objects as supplements to objects defined to the database (for example, tables, primary keys, relationships, stored procedures). These user‑defined objects (collectively, Optim objects) are stored in the Optim Directory.
The Optim Directory is a set of tables in which Optim tracks processing status and store objects needed for processing. You must use the Configuration program to create or configure the Directory tables and stored procedures needed to access the Directory.
Objects in the Directory that are common to Optim include:
An Access Definition is required for an Archive Process and is sometimes used for a Restore Process.
A Column Map can be referenced in a Table Map for an Insert or Load Process used in a Restore Process.
For example, you can use a Column Map Procedure to round Year-to-Date Sales amounts before restoring data for analysis or reporting.
A DB Alias name is used as a high-order qualifier for an object or table name, providing information Optim needs to access the appropriate database. A DB Alias is needed anytime a database object is referenced. For example, to qualify the name of an Optim primary key, Optim relationship, or a database table referenced in an Access Definition, Column Map, or Table Map.
A primary key can be used to create an Optim relationship, and is required for a table that is changed by a Delete, Insert, or Restore Process or a table that is visited more than once in an Archive Process. A primary key is also required to enable the row selection (Point and Shoot) feature for an Access Definition or an Archive Process.
Optim uses relationships to determine the data to be retrieved from related tables and relies upon relationships defined to the database, when available. However, you can also define relationships to supplement those in the database. Generally, a relationship is needed in a process that uses an Access Definition.
A Table Map is required for an Insert, Load, or Restore Process.
The Archive utilities (Directory Maintenance, Register Files, and Index Maintenance) and the Storage Profile utility are documented in the Archive User Manual. Other utilities that are common to all Optim components are documented in the Common Elements Manual, as follows:
Personal and Product Options are used to maintain the Optim environment. Generally, Product Options parameters enforce site and system requirements, while you can use Personal Options to customize Optim for use at each workstation. (Refer to the Installation and Configuration Guide and the Common Elements Manual .)
Security options allow you to establish as many as three levels of security for using Optim. Functional security allows you to control user access to the interface for functions provided by Optim, object security allows you to control access to specific objects in the Optim Directory, and Archive File security allows you to control access to data in Archive Files. All security options are documented in the Installation and Configuration Guide .