Analyzing Data › Defining Entity Types, Relationships, and Attributes › Defining Entity Type Attributes › Attribute Aliases

Attribute Aliases

As with entity types, each attribute is known by a number of different names. For example, the attribute Number of the entity type CUSTOMER is known variously as NUM, NO, CN (Customer Number), or Numeric Identifier. Each synonym is recorded as an alias of the attribute.

Each alias is identified as an acronym (such as CN), an abbreviation (NUM or no), or neither (such as Numeric Identifier). Additionally, a long name of up to 50 characters can be recorded as an alias of the attribute. The long name is typically used only to provide compatibility with data dictionary products that support names longer than the 32-character CA Gen standard.