Using Client Defined Identifiers

This section highlights the importance of using Client Defined Identifiers in conjunction with the Copy Configuration functionality.

Aria objects, such as plans, services, and other kinds of elements are assigned unique, arbitrary identifiers in the system database. When copying objects from one Aria instance to another, the integrity of these arbitrary identifiers cannot be maintained: new identifiers are assigned for each environment.

Fortunately, this can be mitigated by using Client Defined Identifiers that allow you to define and assign descriptive identifiers for many Aria objects. Every object that can be copied using Copy Configuration can be identified using a Client Defined Identifier.

Client Defined Identifiers make it easy to establish meaningful and consistent names that conform to your standard naming conventions and practices. If you do not have a set of naming conventions and procedures for Aria objects and elements in place already, it is recommended that you develop and implement these kinds of guidelines as soon as possible.

One naming strategy is to create meaningful names that specify the type of object in all uppercase letters, for example, “PLAN,” then, in lowercase letters, the type of plan (master or supplemental), the name of the plan, and, finally, the date the plan was created. So, you might have plans named:

• PLAN_master_flat_rate_10_10_2015
• PLAN_supp_recurring_01_05_2015
• PLAN_supp_no_charge_03_22_2015

Note the use of underscores between elements of the names. This is a recommended best practice across all named entities in Aria.