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Example Data

Example Data fills the Metaverse with realistic people and groups, so you can explore JIM, demonstrate it, or try a feature without first connecting systems and waiting for a synchronisation. An Example Data Template describes what to generate; Example Data Sets supply the names, departments, job titles and other values it draws on. Both are under Administration, then Example Data.

How Example Data fills the Metaverse Example Data Sets supply the values. An Example Data Template names the Metaverse Object Types, how many objects of each to create, and the rules that make each attribute's values. Execute Template queues the work for the Worker, which records it as a Data Generation Activity. The generated objects stay in the Metaverse permanently: only a Factory Reset clears them. Example DataTemplateObject Types,counts, rules ExecuteTemplatequeued forthe Worker Data Generationrecorded asan Activity ExampleData Sets Metaverse the values to draw on kept until a Factory Reset How Example Data fills the Metaverse Example Data Sets supply the values. An Example Data Template names the Metaverse Object Types, how many objects of each to create, and the rules that make each attribute's values. Execute Template queues the work for the Worker, which records it as a Data Generation Activity. The generated objects stay in the Metaverse permanently: only a Factory Reset clears them. Example Data TemplateObject Types, counts, rules Execute Templatequeued for the Worker Data Generationrecorded as an Activity Example Data Setsthe values to draw on Metaversekept until a Factory Reset

Generated objects stay

Generated objects are added to the Metaverse permanently. JIM never deletes them automatically, whatever the Object Type's Deletion Rule, and no command removes them one by one; a Factory Reset is the only way to clear them. Generate data on a system you can reset, never on one already synchronising real identities.

Templates

A template names one or more Metaverse Object Types, how many objects of each to create, and how to make each attribute's values. The Templates page lists them; opening one shows, for each Object Type, every attribute with its Population % and the Rules that make its values.

JIM ships one template, Users & Groups, which creates 10,000 users and 500 groups:

  • Users get first and last names, a display name and email address built from them, a sequential Employee ID, a company, department, team, job title and start date, a manager drawn from the users above them, and a status.
  • Groups get a generated name, a type (security or distribution, with an email address for distribution groups), between 5 and 200 users as members, and up to five owners.

A built-in template cannot be changed or deleted. To customise one, duplicate it and change the copy.

Build your own

  1. On the Templates page, select New Template. Name it, then either start blank with a first Metaverse Object Type and how many objects to create, or copy an existing template. Duplicate, on a template's row or its page, does the same with that template already chosen.
  2. On the template's page, select Add Attribute on an Object Type, choose the Metaverse Attribute, and set how its values are made (see the table below). Add Object Type adds another type to generate.
  3. Edit or remove an attribute from its row, change how many objects of a type to create with the pencil beside its name, and Rename or Delete the template from the buttons above.

Each change is saved as soon as you confirm it, with an optional reason recorded in the template's Changes tab. Removing an attribute warns you when another attribute's pattern or condition reads its value. Templates can also be built with New-JIMExampleDataTemplate, copied with Copy-JIMExampleDataTemplate, or managed over the REST API; see Example Data in the PowerShell reference.

How values are made

Each attribute's rules decide its values:

Attribute data type Rules
Text A value from one or more Example Data Sets; a pattern combining other attributes and sets, such as {First Name}.{Last Name}@company.com ({0}, {1} read the template attribute's Example Data Sets in order, and [UniqueInt] adds a number only where a value would repeat); an expression; a choice from weighted values; or a number
Number Between a minimum and maximum, counting up or chosen at random
Date A random date between a minimum and maximum
True or false Chosen at random, or an exact share given true: at 20%, 40 of 200 objects are true and 160 false, rounded to the nearest object with halves rounded up
Reference Objects of the chosen Object Types, between a minimum and maximum number for a multi-valued attribute; a Manager attribute builds a reporting hierarchy
Identifier A new identifier for each object

Population % gives the attribute a value on exactly that share of the objects, rounded up to a whole object, and leaves it empty on the rest. An attribute can depend on another one's value, such as an email address only for distribution groups. For a dependent attribute, Population % is a share of the objects meeting the condition, rounded up to a whole object in the same way. A true-or-false share counts only the objects that end up with a value, so an attribute at 50% Population % and 20% true on 200 objects gives 100 values, 20 of them true.

Generate the objects

  1. Open the template and select Execute Template.
  2. JIM queues the work for the Worker and records it as a Data Generation Activity. The template page shows its progress, then how many objects it created.

Cancelling the Worker Task stops generation, but objects already written stay in the Metaverse.

Generated objects are reviewed against the export rules at the next synchronisation of any Connected System, so an export rule that provisions their Object Type creates their accounts without anything else having to change (see When a change to an export rule takes effect).

Example Data Sets

An Example Data Set is a named list of values that templates draw on. JIM ships thirteen, all in English: Firstnames Male, Firstnames Female, Lastnames, Companies, Departments, Teams, Job Titles, User Statuses, Group Statuses, Adjectives, Colours, Words and Group Name Endings. The Data Sets page lists them with how many values each holds, and opening one shows its values.

A built-in set cannot be changed or deleted. Add your own, such as your organisation's real department names, with New-JIMExampleDataSet.

Who can use it

Only administrators can open the Example Data pages, and the REST API behind them requires the Administrator role too.