There are four types of Place entities. The type is determined by the entity's specification.

• Locations are defined by geographic references.

• Addresses are defined by textual information.

• Address ranges represent groups of addresses that are created as a block, such as a range of street addresses.

• Sites represent places that do not have a single, precise location. Sites can have configurations. See "Working with Entity Configurations" for more information.

When you create a Place entity, you can specify its geographic coordinates. These coordinates are required if the place (or a network node associated with it) is to appear on a network map. See "Using the Map View" for more information.

You can use one of these two formats:

• The universal geographic coordinate system based on latitude and longitude.

• The North American V & H (vertical and horizontal) coordinate system.

See "About Unified Inventory Management" in UIM Concepts for more information about geographic coordinates.

You can associate Place entities to other entities to define those entities' geographic locations. For example, you can associate a place with a service to specify the location where the service is delivered. See "Associating Places to Entities" for more information.

You can assign roles to Place entities. For example, you could assign the role of Headquarters to a site.

Places entities can include hierarchies of other places. For example, there could be a Location entity called State that includes a hierarchy of counties and cities. Place hierarchies can also include Property Location entities. For example, the hierarchy of a Place entity that a represents a city could include all the property locations in that city.

Places are topology-enabled, so you can search for them in the topology diagram using the ATA application. See "Working with the Inventory Topology" for more information.

You can associate places to entities to locate them geographically. The location can be very precise, as with an address, or more general, as with a site.

To associate a place to an entity:

1. Open the Summary page of an entity.

2. Click the Groups and Infrastructure tab.

3. In the Places section, click Associate.

   The Associate Place dialog box appears.

4. Search for or create a Place entity.

5. In the Search Results section, select a Place entity.

6. Click OK.

   The Places section in the Summary page refreshes to include the entity.

7. (Optional) In the Places section Role list, select a role that describes the association of the original entity and the place. For Service entities, you can create a new role if necessary.

   The Role field is empty if no roles are valid for this association.

To remove a place association:

1. Open the Summary page of the entity from which you want to remove a place association.

2. Click the Groups and Infrastructure tab.

3. In the Places section, select the place to delete and click Delete.

   The place is removed from the list.

You use the Place - New page to create new Place entities.

You use the Place - Information page to edit the information that appears in the Summary page Information section. Some data elements, such as the ID, cannot be changed after the entity is created.

You use the Place Summary page to define the content for a Place entity. You can also view the topology diagram of the place, using the ATA application, by clicking Topology. See "Working with the Inventory Topology" for more information.

The page is arranged into tabs, each of which is used for a different purpose:

• General Information Tab

• Configurations Tab

• Associated Resources Tab

• Groups and Infrastructure Tab

See "Entity Summary Page" and "Related Pages Menu" for information about Summary page fields that are common among all entities.

You use the Place Configuration Information - New Version page to create new service configurations.

You use the Place Configuration page to define the content for a place configuration.

See the following topics for more information about tasks you can complete in Place Configuration pages:

• Related Pages Menu

• Actions Menu

To create a property location:

1. In the Inventory - Infrastructure group of the navigation section, click Property Locations.

2. In the Search Results section, click Create.

3. In the Location Type area, select Network Location, Service Location, Point of Presence, or all.

   If you selected Network Location, the Network Location Code field at the bottom of the page becomes available.

4. In the Property Address area, enter or select information in the Street Address, City, and Country fields. Optionally enter information into the Apt/Room/Suite, State, Sub Area, and Postal Code fields. (The Sub Area field is available only when you select a country other than the US in the Country field.)

   The Property Name field is automatically populated with a name made up of the street address, Apt/Room/Suite value, city, sub area, state, postal code, and country values.

5. (Optional) Overwrite this default name if desired.

   If you overwrite the default name, UIM does not update the name when address details change. The Property Name value must be unique for service locations.

6. (Optional) If you do not intend to validate this property address, select the Accept Property Address As Is check box.

7. (Optional) Validate the property address.

   If you choose to validate the address, the information you enter manually may be replaced. See "Validating Property Addresses" for more information.

8. (Optional) In the Geographic Coordinates area, enter either a latitude and longitude or a vertical and horizontal coordinate pair. When you enter coordinates in one system, the corresponding values in the other system are populated. For example, if you enter a latitude and longitude, the vertical and horizontal values are populated automatically.

9. (Optional) To lock the geographic coordinates so that they cannot be changed, even during address validation, click the Lock Coordinates button.

10. If you selected Network Location as the location type, enter a uniquely identifying code in the Network Location Code field. The network location code must be three to ten characters in length and can correspond to CLLI format. See "About Unified Inventory Management" in UIM Concepts for more information.

    When you enter a code that is unique in your inventory, the Unique Code label and check mark icon next to the Network Location Code field are highlighted.

11. (Optional) If you want the property name to include the network location code, select Use Network Location Code as Property Name.

12. (Optional) Enter values for any characteristics defined for the Property Location entity.

13. Click Save or Save and Close.

Related Topics

Adding Network Entity Codes to Network Locations

Editing Property Locations

You can edit property locations after you create them.

To edit a property location:

• In a Property Location page General Information tab, click the Edit button in the upper-right corner.

  The fields in the page become available.

Related Topics

Adding Network Entity Codes to Network Locations

Validating Property Addresses

You can validate property addresses to ensure consistency and prevent duplication. UIM validates addresses by using a geocoder such as Oracle Spatial eLocation. See"About Unified Inventory Management" in UIM Concepts and "Unified Inventory Management System Administration Overview" in UIM System Administrator's Guide for more information about setting up geocoding features on UIM.

When you validate a property address, UIM presents you with one or more addresses that match the address information that has already been entered for the property. If you select one of the matches, UIM replaces the address details for the property with the information returned by the geocoder.

The Apt/Room/Suite field in the address is ignored during validation and is not changed if you select an address suggested by the validation process.

After a property address has been validated, a green check mark appears in the upper right corner of the page where you performed the validation. If you change the address details after validation, the property location is considered unvalidated and the check mark is removed. You can validate the address again.

To validate a property address:

1. In the Create Property Location page or in the General Information tab of a Property Location page, enter all required address information.

2. Click the Validate Address button.

   UIM opens a dialog box containing one or more matching addresses.

3. Do one of the following:

   • Select one of the addresses and then click OK.

     UIM marks the address as validated, displays a green check mark in the Property Address area, and updates the address fields if necessary. If you later edit any of the address fields, the address reverts to unvalidated state.

   • Click the Accept Address As Is button.

     UIM closes the dialog box, selects the Accept Address As Is check box in the address area, and leaves the address information in its current state.

   • Click the Cancel Validation button.

     UIM closes the dialog box, leaving the address unchanged and the address unvalidated.

4. Click Save or Save and Close.

Related Topics

Creating Property Locations

Editing Property Locations

Network locations can be associated with logical devices that terminate connectivity. Such logical devices are called network devices and they have network entity codes that uniquely identify them within the network location. See "Associating Logical Devices to Network Locations and Network Entity Locations" for more information.

To add a network entity code to a network location:

1. Navigate to the General Information tab of a Property Location Summary page.

2. (Optional) If you want the property name to include the network location code, select Use Network Location Code as Property Name.

3. Click the Network Entity Codes tab.

4. Do the following for each network entity code you want to add:

   1. Click the Add button in the toolbar.

   2. In the first empty row in the table, enter a network entity code for a logical device at this network location.

You add property locations to inventory groups so that you can manage them more efficiently.

To add a property location to an inventory group:

1. Navigate to the Groups and Infrastructure tab of a Property Location Summary page.

2. Click the Associate button.

   The Associate Inventory Group dialog box appears.

3. Search for or create an inventory group.

4. Click OK.

   The dialog box closes and the inventory group appears in the table in the Inventory Groups tab.

Related Topics

Working with Inventory Groups

You use the Property Location - New page to create new Property Location entities.

You use the Property Location page to enter and view information about Property Location entities. The page is arranged into several tabs, each of which is used for a different purpose:

• General Information Tab

• Network Entity Codes Tab

• Groups and Infrastructure Tab

• Associated Resources