Understanding the Tag Synchronizer tool

The Tag Synchronizer tool supports the import and maintenance of assets from the database of a maintenance management system (MMS) such as Maximo or SAP Plant Maintenance into Meridian Enterprise. The program is provided as-is and is not supported.

The Tag Synchronizer tool supports a two-step process. In the first step, the relevant information is exported from the MMS database to an intermediate file, usually an MS Access or MS Excel table, by calling a stored procedure in the MMS database.

In the second step, the actual import from the intermediate file takes place. Each record in a search result is imported as one object of the type tagObject in Meridian Enterprise. If an object does not exist already, the tool will create it, if it is configured to do so. The tool does not remove objects from Meridian Enterprise if they do not exist in the intermediate file. But it is possible to configure an action that sets the status of existing objects in a Meridian Enterprise vault to Retired.

The Tag Synchronizer tool supports several other features:

• Mapping of metadata from the MMS to Meridian Enterprise object properties
• Running the tool in unattended mode from a command line without displaying a user interface
• Only updating existing objects, without creating them in the vault if they do not exist
• Only importing non-existing objects, without modifying existing objects
• Retiring objects, instead of importing (or updating them)
• Sequential import of objects from the last import date
• Adding content to the objects imported
• Setting or updating a revision number for the objects processed
• Specifying the folder location of the imported objects
• Sending an email notification in case of errors
• Log files for showing import details and error information
• Updating the intermediate file with the result of the import or retirement actions

After importing assets, it might be necessary to create references between documents in Meridian Enterprise and the objects. A second tool named Tag Link Synchronizer is provided for this purpose and is described in Understanding the Tag Link Synchronizer tool.

When Tag Synchronizer is started without command line arguments, the tool starts in interactive mode similar to the following figure.

The tool is configured as described in Configuring Tag Synchronizer .