Collections (Master Data Services)
A collection is a group of leaf and consolidated members from a single entity. Use collections when you do not need a complete hierarchy and you want to view different groupings of members for reporting or analysis, or when you need to create a taxonomy.
What Collections Contain
Collections do not limit the number or type of members you can include, as long as the members are within the same entity. A collection can contain leaf and consolidated members from multiple mandatory and non-mandatory explicit hierarchies.
When you create a collection, you are not creating a hierarchical structure; you are creating a flat list of members. When you select a node from a hierarchy and add it to the collection, the consolidated member you selected is the only member added to the collection.
A collection can also contain other collections. You can use collections of collections to create taxonomies.
When you create a collection you are automatically listed as the owner. If you are an administrator, you can create other attributes for your collection as needed.
Note
Before you can create a collection, the entity must be enabled for explicit hierarchies. For more information, see Enable an Entity for Explicit Hierarchies and Collections (Master Data Services).
Subscription Views for Collections
There are two types of subscription views that show collections. The Collection attributes format shows a list of collections and any attributes related to the collections (like description or owner). The Collections format shows all members in all collections, as well as each members weight and sort order. For more information, see Exporting Data (Master Data Services).
If you set weight values for specific members in a collection, these values are available in related subscription views.
Related Tasks
| Task Description | Topic |
|---|---|
| Enable an entity for explicit hierarchies and collections. | Enable an Entity for Explicit Hierarchies and Collections (Master Data Services) |
| Create a new collection. | Create a Collection (Master Data Services) |
| Add members to an existing collection. | Add Members to a Collection (Master Data Services) |