Managing custom hierarchies

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Administrators can create and manage custom hierarchies in Network. These hierarchies can be used in the Hierarchy Explorer widget and in Network Reporting.

  • To access the page, click Data Model > Hierarchy Management.

Supported objects

Veeva standard objects and custom objects are supported for this feature. Hierarchies for custom objects are supported for reporting only.

Hierarchy management benefits

Use the Hierarchy Management page for the following activities:

General benefits

  • Manage and create your own hierarchies.

  • Control hierarchies per country.

Hierarchy Explorer benefits

  • Choose which hierarchies are available on your Hierarchy Explorer widgets for your different teams.
    Example
    You can create two widgets and apply specific hierarchies to each widget:

    • Neurology Hierarchy Explorer widget: Display the All Hierarchies and Neurology Hierarchy

    • Oncology Hierarchy Explorer Widget: Display the All Hierarchies and Oncology Hierarchy

  • Flexibility to view and filter data in Hierarchy Explorer

Flat hierarchy report table

  • Minimize the number of SQL joins required for queries with new fields on the flat_hierarchy table.

  • Add fields to the table (for example, HCO Type or Major Class of Trade).

  • Easier to report on custom objects; for example, Product Master.

  • Manage the schedule to update the flat_hierarchy table.

Default hierarchies

Network provides the following predefined hierarchies:

  • All hierarchies (flat_hierarchy) - Includes all active and valid HCPs and HCOs for the ParentHCO relationship object.

  • Ownership (flat_ownership_hierarchy) - (US only) Includes HCPs and HCOs for the ParentHCO relationship object that have the relationship type Kaiser, Ownership, or Affiliation.

    Note: This table is not available by default in the SQL Query Editor. To use this hierarchy table, click the Update Flattened Hierarchy Table or schedule the data update. After the data is updated, the table will be available.

You can customize these hierarchy configurations.

Existing custom hierarchies for Hierarchy Explorer

If you have custom hierarchies created by Network, those hierarchies are available to be managed from the Hierarchy Management page.

Custom Hierarchy reporting table

If you had a customized flat_hierarchy table before the Hierarchy Management feature was available, a hierarchy called Custom Hierarchy was created in your Network instance. It contains your customized flat_hierarchy table and the Flattened Hierarchy Reporting table option is disabled in the All Hierarchies hierarchy configuration.

Add a hierarchy

Add a hierarchy to your Network instance so you can standardize it across reporting and your Hierarchy Explorer widgets.

To add a hierarchy:

  1. On the Hierarchy Management page, click Add Hierarchy.

    The New Hierarchy page displays.

  2. Details section, define the following information:

    • Name and Description

    • Relationship Object - Identify the relationship objects that will define this hierarchy. All active relationship objects in your Network display.

      Relationship objects are listed by data domain in the list.

    • Country - Choose the countries that the hierarchy will be applied to.
      The countries that are available have a data visibility profile configured in your Network instance.

  3. Hierarchy Definition section - Create conditions on the relationship object to define the hierarchy. If no conditions are created, the hierarchy will include all active and valid relationships by default.

    To create a condition, click Add Condition.

    For each condition, define the following:

    • Field - The field that determines the objects that will display in the hierarchy.

      Checkbox, reference type, and primary fields on the relationship object display in the list.

      Note: If you choose a custom field as a condition for Hierarchy Explorer, it must be included in the Hierarchy Explorer index. To add the field to the index, contact Veeva Support.

    • Condition - The condition is always In.

    • Value - Choose the field value.

    For a neurology-related hierarchy, you might have a custom field on the ParentHCO object to flag HCOs that specialize in neurology.

    Add this custom field as the condition so the hierarchy displays only those HCOs and HCPs that roll-up to the parent HCOs in that health system that are flagged as Yes/True.

  4. Hierarchy Explorer section - Include this hierarchy on your Hierarchy Explorer widgets.

    • Enable hierarchy view on Hierarchy Explorer widgets - Select this option to add this hierarchy to your widgets.

      Note: This option is available only for hierarchies that use parent HCO relationships. Custom relationship objects are not supported for the Hierarchy Explorer widget.

    • Setup - Expand the Show on list to select the widgets to add the hierarchy to. All active and inactive Hierarchy Explorer widgets display.

    • Display Name and Tooltip - Define the name and tooltip that will display in the Hierarchy Explorer widget.

      • Language - Choose the language for this name and tooltip.

      • Display Name - The name that will display in the view tab.

      • Tooltip - A description of the hierarchy that will display when users hover over the view.

      Example

      To add multiple languages, click Add Language.

    Note: If you add a relationship object to the hierarchy after this section is configured, a warning displays.
    Hierarchy Explorer is supported only for hierarchies that use the ParentHCO object. If another relationship object is added, the hierarchy does not display on the widget.

  5. Flattened Hierarchy Reporting section - Include this hierarchy as a reporting table to help users more easily report on different levels of the hierarchy.
    Typically, reporting on these details is difficult because it requires joining several tables in your SQL query.

    • Enable flattened hierarchies in reporting - Select this option to add this hierarchy as a reporting table in the SQL Query Editor.

    • Table name and location in reporting - Define the table name and its placement in the reporting tree view.

      • Reporting tree view location - Select the data domain that the table will be added to in the tree view. The domains of the relationship object display in the list.

      • Table name - Define the name of the table. All flattened hierarchy tables have the flat_prefix and the _hierarchy suffix.
        The table name must be unique in each Network instance.

      • Table label - Choose the language and type a label for the table. To add labels in multiple languages, click Add Language.

      When the hierarchy is saved, it will display in the data domain section and in the Flattened Hierarchies section of the tree view.

      Example

    • Entity and Ancestor Fields - Add fields to the reporting table to minimize other SQL joins that might be required for queries.

       

      • Entity and Ancestor Name - Select this option to define additional fields to include in the reporting table.

      • Entity Fields - Add fields for the owner object of each relationship object.

      • Ancestor Fields - Add fields for the non-owner object of the relationship object.

        Network automatically adds the Veeva ID fields for the entity (entity_vid__v) and ancestor (ancestor_vid__v) for each relationship object in the hierarchy.

        • Fields that you define are appended with either _ancestor or _entity in the flattened hierarchy table.

        In the report results, the column headings identify the objects as Entity or Ancestor.

        If you select the same field for more than one object, it is added to the reporting table for one object only. For example, if you define the speciality_1__v field for both the HCP and HCO objects, it is added to the reporting table as speciality_1__v_entity.

    • Update Flattened Hierarchy Table - Click to manually update the reporting table.

      The button disappears when an update is in progress and is dimmed when the hierarchy configuration has pending changes (changes must be saved before an update can occur).

      Refresh the page to see the update progress.

  6. Schedule section - Choose to update the flattened hierarchy reporting table on a schedule or manually.

    • Scheduled - If you choose to schedule the updates, multiple updates can be scheduled. Schedules display in your local timezone.

    • Manual - If you choose to update the table manually, after you save the hierarchy, use the Update Flattened Hierarchy Table button to start an update.

    Note: If you had previously enabled the flat_hierarchy table and set a schedule for data updates, that schedule is preserved in the All Hierarchies hierarchy configuration.

  7. Flattened hierarchy update history - This section displays after the hierarchy is saved and the flattened hierarchy table data is updated for the first time. It identifies the date and time, the user that triggered the update and the total rows of data in the table. Any errors that occur will also display.

    • Update Flattened Hierarchy Table - Click to manually update the table.

  8. Save your changes.

    9. The hierarchy is now available in Network Reporting and the Hierarchy Explorer widget (if you applied it to the widget).

Hierarchy Explorer widget configuration

Open a Hierarchy Explorer widget (Widgets & Portal) to manage the hierarchy views that display.

The Hierarchies to Display section contains the hierarchies that you have applied to the widget. Hierarchies are listed in order that they were added.

  • Add - To include additional hierarchies, click Add Network Hierarchy.

  • Re-order - Use the Handle to change the display order for the hierarchies in the widget.

For example, the hierarchy views in this configuration will display in the following order: 

Country considerations

Hierarchy views display if the country defined in the configuration applies to the primary country of the root HCO. For example, the Ownership Hierarchy view applies to the US only, so it does not display for a health system in Canada.

Flattened hierarchy reporting

Navigate to Reports > SQL Query Editor to see the flattened table for the hierarchy. The table displays in the data domain and the Flattened Hierarchies categories.

In the Flattened Hierarchies category, you can click Flat Hierarchy Settings to navigate to the Hierarchy Management page.

Expand the table to view the hierarchy details and fields.

Hierarchy updates

The Updated Date displays the last time the hierarchy was updated. Data Managers and Admin can click Update Now to start an update.

Note: The Update Now option does not display if the table has been updated in the last hour. To do an update, go to the Hierarchy Management page.

More reporting details

To learn about the supported relationships and paths and example queries, see Reporting on hierarchies.

Hierarchy management page

The Hierarchy Management page lists the hierarchies that have been configured in your Network instance.

The following summary information is available:

  • Name and description - The hierarchies are listed alphabetical by name.

  • Relationship objects - An alphabetical lists of relationship objects that apply to the hierarchy.

  • Country - The countries that the hierarchy applies to.

  • Used By - Indicates if the hierarchy is used in the following features. The features display if they are enabled in your Network instance.

    • Network Reporting - The name of the flattened hierarchy table.

    • Hierarchy Explorer widgets - A count of widgets that use the hierarchy. Click the link to view a list of the widgets.

  • Modified Date - The date that the hierarchy was last modified and the user that made the change. Any hierarchies that were created by the Network team, will display System until a Network user makes changes.

  • Status - Indicates if the hierarchy is enabled or disabled.

    The hierarchy was created by Network and cannot be disabled.
    The hierarchy is enabled.
    The hierarchy is not enabled.

Logs

Administrators can track the following changes to the hierarchies in the System Audit Log:

  • hierarchy definition changes

  • Hierarchy Explorer widget configuration changes

  • hierarchy data updates

Managing configurations

Hierarchies can be created in your Sandbox instance for testing and then exported to your Production instance. When you export a hierarchy configuration, the fields in the hierarchy will be added to the export package automatically. The Hierarchy Explorer widget is not automatically added to the export package.

Reporting on custom objects

Querying hierarchies; for example, a Product hierarchy, can be complex. There are several relationships and levels involved, which can make it difficult to query, even for intermediate SQL users.

Example

This is a Product Master hierarchy for Cholecap with only half of the nodes displayed. There are many relationships between the Market Basket and Package level.

To traverse this Cholecap hierarchy through all the objects, we need to do the following:

  • Traverse Market Baskets that roll up to the Cholestoral Reducer Market Basket

  • Traverse another level of Market Baskets

  • Traverse to the Brand level.

  • Traverse to the Product level.

  • Traverse through the Packages level.

Creating a query is complex because there are several relationships and entities in the hierarchy.

Leveraging the Hierarchy Management feature, you can create a Product hierarchy that will skip levels in the hierarchy. For example, you could go from the Product level to the Market Basket level.

Query example

We want to identify all of the packages under the Cholesterol Market Basket. Based on the example above, the query would need to contain at least five JOINs on the relationships and several more JOINs on each entity.

If you create a Product hierarchy reporting table, no JOINs are required in the SQL query to find this data.

SELECT
        entity_vid__v,
        entity_name__v,
        entity_type__v,
        package_v_regulatory_identifier__c_entity,
        package_v_type__c_entity,
        package_v_upc__c_entity,
        ancestor_vid__v,
        ancestor_name__v,
        ancestor_type__v,
        path_info,
        path_info_vid
    FROM
        flat_product_hierarchy
    WHERE
        ancestor_vid__v = 941611810352334444
        AND entity_type__v = 'PACKAGE_V__C'

Results

The packages that roll-up to the Cholesterol Reducer Market Basket display in the report.