User Profiles synching to BDC 1:1 option

Question

What is the purpose of the 1:1 option within the Custom Import Connections when selecting the BDC?

I initially thought that 1:1 was 1 record per user profile, but it is actually the set of profiles, which I think means you would essentially set a single field in all profiles to a value returned from the BDC. If that is correct then there isn't much value there.

Any input?

Answer 1

When you set up BDC as a secondary data source for your user profiles, you need to have a unique identifier to connect AD and database (usually initials or similar). That one field is mapped against the AD, but you can extract as many fields as you want from database.

Use 1:1 when you have an exact match (like mail or initials), use 1:many if you are mapping up against a table with more than one field per user. That btw would require you to add a filter method to your application definition.

hth Anders