How 'durable' is the Internal ID?

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codemagic
Posts: 1
Joined: 25 Sep 2020, 18:21

I'm looking to shift our org from using a team-created surrogate key to a more durable key that is created when a new class instance is created and does not change for the life of the instance.

By durable, I mean it should be constant even if the attributes within the instance were to be updated (and it's relationships to other classes to be changed). I believe the Internal ID is such a key but I wanted to confirm with the Essential community that is indeed the case.

For example: when I migrate data from one repo to another I think this Internal ID is migrated as well and is not repo-specific. This ID can then be transmitted to downstream consumers of the data outside of Essential so that if an integration API is created we can anchor this ID to other systems' usage to comprehend a delta of object changes over time.
sarah.smith
Posts: 56
Joined: 04 Feb 2009, 15:44

Hi,

Yes you are right, the Internal ID that is created when an instance is created in Essential is constant and does not change when the instance is updated. It also remains the same if you copy one repository to another and retrieve an instance from the repository via the REST API.

Sarah
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