When we create the entity base object, we need to decide how we are going to specify the entity type. In our example, we don't want to use a system-generated row ID number, want to use the meaningful codes Product and Product Group to specify the entity type.

We want to use a foreign key entity type column of our own choice, so we first create a base object with a Product_Type column. If you create a new entity base object, you are not able to specify a customized column name. When we convert this base object to an entity base object, we select the Product_Type column as the entity type foreign key. For this hierarchy, we will create two entity types. The value in the Product_Type column determines to which entity type a record belongs.

The following image shows the selections made to convert the sample entity base object:

You can then populate the foreign key column in a mapping.