I2 Analyst's Notebook 7 User Guide - ISS Africa -Investigation ...

Selecting the correct parent for a custom semantic type
Appendix B: The i2 Semantic Approach
Choosing the correct semantic type to derive your new custom semantic type from
is a critical decision because the custom semantic type inherits characteristics and
behaviors from its parent. In the above sporting event example, it would be
inappropriate to derive the custom semantic types from the Document entity
semantic type, for example, because a sporting event is not a specialization of a
document.
Where are custom semantic types held?
Initially, custom semantic types are not stored in the i2 Semantic Type Library but
in your current template or database. To ensure that other users benefit from your
custom semantic types, you can distribute them as a custom semantic type
Library. These are stored in a custom file (extension .mtc), which can be loaded
into the power2 application.
Make sure that you load any custom files that are in use in your organization before
deciding whether you need to create a custom semantic type. Each custom
semantic type that is created has a unique internal identifier. Even though a
colleague has a chart with a custom semantic type with the same name as in your
chart, for example Military Jet, the data will not be aligned when the charts are
merged because both custom semantic types are unique. Always establish
whether your proposed custom semantic type will be unique in your organization,
and then share the custom file within your organization so that users are assigning
the same custom semantic type.
Note: If you send your custom file to i2, your new additions will be considered for
inclusion in a later version of the i2 Semantic Type Library. This means that the
entire power2 community can be aligned with your data. power2 applications have
a command to send the custom file to i2. See Sharing custom semantic types on
page 364, for further advice.
For information on changes to the i2 Semantic Type Library, see the release notes
accompanying the library. There may also be additional information in the power2
application’s online help.
i2 Analyst’s Notebook 7 User Guide: Customizing & Analyzing 359