The Data Source Management (DSM) tool is a command line application that creates and manages Data Source Keys and associates them with their respective data entities. You can create Data Source Keys using the DSM Tool, and it is installed when Blackboard Learn is installed. The DSM tool is located in blackboard_home\apps\snapshot\bin\ in a typical installation. To learn more, including syntax, see Snapshot Command Line Tool.
Data source management
Data Source Management (DSM) is a flexible method for identifying sets of data from multiple external sources so that they can be managed within a single Blackboard Learn database. A data source is a logical set of data, sometimes simply associated with a source system, other times associated with type and term data as well.
During the planning processes, institutional business rules must be identified as well as all the systems involved with storing institutional data that will be used in Blackboard Learn to create courses, populate courses, disable and delete records, and so on. This information is vital to deciding how to organize and manipulate the data within the Blackboard Learn database.
All data that is pushed to the Blackboard Learn database is tagged with a data source identifier. These identifiers, called Data Source Keys (DSKs), are created in the Admin Panel or by using the Data Source Management (DSM) Tool. DSKs are the means by which certain data sets are managed.
About data source keys
Data Source Keys parse large amounts of data into smaller entities by tagging them with a unique identifier. This identifier ties pieces of data together to ensure that they are processed within the system according to institutional practices and identified business rules.
