Glossary
Overview
Becoming comfortable with the Cinchy terms and verbiage is an essential step to broaden your understanding of the platform and data collaboration as a whole. We've created this handy guide featuring to help you better understand the words and phrases you may see appear throughout this wiki space.
B
Batch Sync
A Batch Sync is one of the two types of Data Syncs that you can perform using Cinchy. Batch syncs work by processing a group or a ‘batch’ of data all together rather than each piece of data individually. When the data sync is triggered it will compare the contents of the source to the target. The Cinchy Worker will decide if data needs to be added, deleted or updated. Batch sync can either be run as a one-time data load operation, or it can be scheduled to run periodically using an external Enterprise Scheduler
C
Cinchy Administrator
The Cinchy Administrator is a user or user group with special Entitlements within the Cinchy platform. An administrator can be either an End-User or a Builder.
A Builder Admin can:
Modify all table data (including system tables), all schema, and all data controls
This includes setting up and configuring users, assigning them to groups, and assigning which users have builder access
View all tables (including system tables) and queries in the platform
A Non-Builder Admin can:
View all tables (including system tables) and queries in the platform
Modify data controls for tables
Cinchy Builder
“Cinchy Builders” use the Cinchy platform to build an unlimited number of business capabilities and use-cases.
The “Cinchy Builder” has access to perform the following capabilities:
Change Table Schema (use Cinchy’s “Design Table” functionality)
Grant access (use Cinchy’s “Design Controls” functionality)
Edit Cinchy Data in Cinchy System Tables
Create, Save, and Share Cinchy Queries
Perform specific Cinchy Queries on the Cinchy data network
Import/export packaged business capabilities (such as deployment packages)
Build Cinchy Experiences
Perform integration with Cinchy (Cinchy Command Line Interface [CLI] operations)
Create and Deliver an unlimited number of Customer Use Cases within Cinchy
A builder can be part of the Administrators group
Cinchy CLI
The Cinchy Command Line Interface (CLI) is a tool that offers utilities for syncing data in and out of Cinchy via various commands.
CinchyDXD
CinchyDXD is a downloadable utility used to move Data Experiences (DX) from one environment to another. This includes any and all objects and components that have been built for, or are required in, support of the Data Experience.
Cinchy ID
Cinchy ID is a unique identifier assigned automatically to all records within a normal table. The Cinchy ID is associated with the record permanently and is never reassigned even if the record is deleted.
Cinchy Query Language (CQL)
Cinchy Query Language (CQL) is the data collaboration version of common query languages such as SQL. With a robust set of functions and commands, you can use CQL to retrieve and manage/modify data and metadata from tables in your network. While data can reside across many tables, a query can isolate it to a single output, making the possibilities of CQL endlessly powerful.
Cinchy Query Language can be used in many ways, including but not limited to:
Building queries through the query editor that can return, insert, delete, and otherwise manage your data.
Creating, altering or dropping views for tables
Creating, altering or dropping indexes
Cinchy Upgrade Utility
The Cinchy Upgrade Utility is an easy to use tool that can help you deploy important changes and upgrades to your Cinchy environment when upgrading versions. Note that not every major or minor release version will require the Utility to be run, however this will be clearly noted in the release notes and upgrade guide.
Cinchy End-User
The “End-Users” of the Cinchy platform are those that apply the functionalities created by the “Cinchy Builders” to their business objectives. This can be employees, customers, partners, or systems. Cinchy has two types of end-user: direct and indirect.
Direct Users log into Cinchy via the data browser
Indirect Users (also commonly referred to as "external users") view/edit data via a third-party application/page that connects to Cinchy via API
Cinchy End-Users are able to:
Create and save personal queries. Unlike traditional saved queries made by builders, personal saved queries can't be shared and aren't auto exposed as APIs.
Use Tables, Saved Queries, and Experiences created by “Builders"
Track version history for the full lifecycle of data
Bookmark and manage data
Access data through application experiences
An end-user can be part of the Administrators group
Connections Experience
The Connections Experience is an integral part of Cinchy data collaboration. Serving as the front-end UI for performing Data Syncs, the Connections Experience can be accessed natively in your Cinchy browser to create, configure, and manage the data being synced in and out of the platform. The user friendly interface makes synchronizing your data across a range of apps easy.
D
Data Browser
The Data Browser is the homepage of your Cinchy platform. From here you can view any Tables, Queries, or Experiences that you have access to. You can also use it to search and review any bookmarks that you have saved.
Data Collaboration
Data collaboration entails the collection, exchange and use of data from different origins within an organization. This interaction creates data products with data owners acting as experts for their specific data domains. The interaction of these various data set domains also results in dramatically informed insights that are solely driven by the interactions of the data itself.
Data Destination(s)
When setting up a Data Sync, you must define which destination to push data to. Cinchy maintains a robust list of Data Destination connectors and is always working on adding more into the Connections Experience.
Data Experience
A data experience is a deployable package in Cinchy consisting of tables, queries, groups, and data sync configurations designed for a specific business workflow.
Data Source(s)
When setting up a Data Sync, you must define which source to pull data from. Cinchy maintains a robust list of Data Source connectors and is always working on adding more into the Connections Experience.
Data Synchronizations
Data Synchronizations ("Data Syncs") are a powerful and important aspect of the Cinchy platform. Using a Data Sync allows you to bidirectional push and pull data between various Data Sources and Data Destinations, including Salesforce, Snowflake, REST APIs, and more. Built with keeping the core tenants of data collaboration in mind, Data Syncs adhere to your set Entitlements and can be configured using the intuitive Connections Experience to enable a myriad of use-cases for your business.
E
Entitlements
Entitlements refers to the set of permissions that you are granted for any piece of data. Cinchy allows entitlements to be set at a granular level, meaning you can give individual users or user groups access to things like:
Viewing a data sync
Running a job
Viewing a specific table row or column
Editing a specific table cell
Etc.
Entitlements can persist across the platform when using features such as link columns or the Network Map.
Experiences
Rather than traditional code-centric applications which creates data silos, you can build metadata driven application experiences directly on the Cinchy platform. These look and feel like regular applications, but persists its data on the data network autonomously, rather than managing its own persistence. These experiences automatically adapt as your data evolves. An Org Chart is an example of a metadata driven Experience you can create using the power of data collaboration on Cinchy.
L
Listener configuration
Real-time data syncs need to set up a Cinchy listener configuration for event stream sources so that it knows what data to pull/push through your sync. As of 5.7, this can now be done under the Sources section in the Listener tab. Each stream source has different variables and parameters that you can use to refine your sync. The Listener only needs to be configured for real-time syncs, not for batch syncs.
M
MDQE
MDQE, which stands for Metadata Quality Exceptions, can send out notifications based on a set of rules and the “exceptions” that break them. This powerful tool can be used to send notifications for exceptions such as:
Healthchecks returning a critical status
Upcoming Project Due Dates/Timelines
Client Risk Ratings reaching a high threshold
Tracking Ticket Urgency or Status markers
Unfulfilled and Pending Tasks/Deliverables
Etc.
MDQE monitors for specific changes in data, and then pushes out notifications when that change occurs.
Meta Forms
The Meta-Forms experience is a combination of Angular code packaged as an App Experience and a Data Model packaged as a Data Experience that enables users to interact with Cinchy data in a User-Friendly manner.
It lives on top of the data collaboration platform, allowing builders to create forms with custom configurations and users to access this data outside of the tabular view that's native to Cinchy.
N
Network Map
Cinchy comes out of the box with a system applet called Network Map, which is a visualization of your data on the platform and how everything interconnects; it's another way to view and navigate the data you have access to within Cinchy.
Each node represents a table you have access to within Cinchy, and each edge is one link between two tables. The size of the table is determined by the number of links referencing that table. The timeline on the bottom allows you to check out your data network at a point in the past and look at the evolution of your network.
It uses your Entitlements for viewable tables and linked columns.
Q
Queries/Saved Queries
Queries are the fundamental calculations that allow data to be pushed, pulled, and manipulated across a range of Cinchy features. A query can be used to call data, change data, delete data, or whatever functionality your use case requires. Cinchy comes out of the box with a native Query Builder and works with our proprietary Cinchy Query Language.
A Saved Query is merely a query that has been saved for reuse. These can be accessed via the Saved Queries table in Cinchy, and you have access to view or run them based on your entitlements.
R
Real Time Sync
A Real-Time Sync is one of the two types of Data Syncs that you can perform using Cinchy. In real-time syncs, the Cinchy Listener picks up changes in the source immediately as they occur. These syncs don't need to be manually triggered or scheduled using an external scheduler. Setting up a real-time sync does require an extra step of defining a listener configuration to execute properly.
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