A mapping is a set of source and target definitions linked by transformation objects that define the rules for data transformation. Mappings represent the data flow between sources and targets.

Source and target definitions represent metadata for sources and targets. When you create a source definition, its structure differs depending on the type of source it represents:

The source qualifier for a source definition also differs in structure depending on the type of source definition.

After you create a source or target definition, you can include it in a mapping to extract data from the source or load data to the target. You can extract source data in batch, change, or real-time mode. You can use one source definition and one mapping for all modes.