Map Columns, the new table transformation pipeline step introduced in R12.7, provides a simple interface to map source columns to the destination columns of  the selected Master Dataset.

However, I've noticed that it does not list all the Destination Columns of the Master Dataset. An an example, for Cost Source Master Data, the following commonly used columns seem to be missing in the Destination columns list.

• Department (although Department Code and Department Description are available, consider they are already mapped)
• Data Source / Source Table
• Fiscal Year / Month / Date
• Is Project
• Organization Code / Organization Name
• Document Number / Document Type

What's the best practice if one wants to map a source column to one of these destination columns - without causing a customization or any friction from a content upgrade perspective?

@Johann Malherbe�, @John Adipietro, @James Kelliher

Note: Community admins - please help post this question to CT / TBM Studio space - seems I do not have permission to post in that space. Thanks.

@Logan Brown, @Lauren Pagan

Hi JJ,

You will need to put your question in the https://tbmcouncil.jiveon.com/community/apptio/product-central/apptio-qa-forum space and check off CT as the category.

Hope this helps get your the answers you need. 

- Logan 

@Logan Brown ... Apptio Q&A forum would seem to be the perfect place for me to post this ... just one minor problem ... seems I do not have the permission to post it there ... please review.

You should still be able to map columns that don't automatically appear, and extra columns by clicking the 'Add Custom Column' button when mapping columns. I don't think these will affect upgrades as the whole Map step is a 'Source' for the Master Data Set so it will all be seen as standard (I think). 

The most common reason that a column won't show up is because the data type does not match that of the column you are trying to map from. E.g. source column is a department code which comes in as a number, but the master dataset defines it as a label.

@John Adipietro ... I believe you've misunderstood the query

... your response rightly answers the question - Why a source column would not show-up in the dropdown options against a specific destination column of the master dataset?

whereas my question is - Why don't all the master dataset destination columns appear in the Map columns step so one can match a source column against each one?

Can you clarify the distinction you are trying to address? These sound like essentially the same question to me, i.e. "all columns do not appear because those that cannot be mapped to have been hidden, so you only see the subset that is valid". 

There may be other reasons too, as was mentioned earlier. But this is the point I was trying to make.

@John Adipietro, ... I'll try to explain the question with an example.

(Amongst other columns) say, I'd like to map as follows:

However, on the Map Column step, I cannot see the "Department" column against which I would have liked to map the "Dept" column (refer Map Column step screenshot), even though the "Department" column actually exists OOTB on the Cost Source Master Data (refer Show/Hide Columns screenshot)

... now what @Oliver Smith suggests works (thanks a ton Oli ). I can use the "Add Custom Column" option to map the "Dept" column to Cost Source Master Data and provide a suitable column name ... however, this approach does not show the user that a column by the name of "Department" already exists OOTB on the Master Dataset. If the Map Columns step listed all the 'Destination' columns, a user would have simply mapped it to the correct OOTB column.

Hope that explains my point.

Thank you for confirming. The Source Column drop-down box will (or should?) only list columns (from Cost Source Master) for which the data type matches what is shown in the Type column to the right (based on whatever column in GL Actuals you are looking at). If a particular mapped column from GL Actuals is a "label", meaning there is a large "A" in the Type column, then I would expect the drop-down list for that column only shows Cost Source Master columns which are also type "label". I'm happy to be proved wrong though, if you have experienced something different.

Also note that Add Custom Column would override this check, and let you see all columns regardless of data type mismatches.

I don't think JJ is having any trouble with columns appearing in the drop down. He's saying that Department isn't included as a Destination Column for Cost Source Master Data when he knows that it is a column that's in that dataset

Aha! Now I understand the question. The Department field is not configured (OOTB) to be either a "required" or "optional" field in the Cost Source Master Data. Only those which have been configured as such will be shown in the Destination column list.

@John Adipietro

Weird that Apptio would include Department Code and Department Description fields, but not the Department field.

Also,  per Data Advisor - all three department fields are "Optional".

Thanks for pointing this out! Sounds like maybe we intended for that to be included, so it might be worth opening a support case to bring it to attention of our product team.