In this chapter, we have covered a number of different examples of how to add, update, and delete data in the MDS repository. In particular, we have seen that:
Loading data into MDS involves three core steps—loading, staging, and validation
The majority of the technical effort is in populating the MDS staging tables correctly
There are three staging tables, each with their own set of uses
Other than loading the tables, almost all of the processes involved can be carried out either using the user interface or T-SQL stored procedures
Comprehensive error codes allow easy diagnosis of rows that fail to load
Finally, we have seen that while MDS itself doesn't include any data loading functionality of its own, when complimented with T-SQL and SSIS (or indeed any other competent ETL tool), it is an extremely powerful combination for loading your MDS system with data from many different sources.
In the next chapter, we will look at the MDS features of business rules and workflow.