Pre-Association pattern

A Pre-Association relationship exists between two evidence entities that can live independently of each other until they are associated with each other by a caseworker.

Like the Parent-Child pattern, the Pre-Association pattern is commonly used.

Example of when to use the Pre-Association pattern

Use the Pre-Association pattern where a logical relationship exists between two records and to facilitate a caseworker in easily establishing this relationship. Before a caseworker can enter data about the main evidence type, the caseworker is prompted to select evidence as defined by this pre-association pattern. By selecting evidence, a relationship between the two evidence records is established.

For example, a client is a member of a household. The member details are captured in a household member evidence record. Later, a child is born to the household member. A household member evidence record captures the child's birth. However, the mother-child relationship must also be captured by using a household relationship evidence record. By specifying a pre-association pattern for household relationship evidence to household member evidence, when a caseworker creates a new household relationship record to capture the mother-child relationship, the caseworker is prompted to:

Select the household member.
Enter the household relationship details.

Performing the preceding steps shows that there is a logical relationship between the member and the household relationship. The member must be selected before a relationship and related member can be created.

When not to use the Pre-Association pattern

Do not use the Pre-Association pattern for evidence entities that are not logically related or entities that more naturally fall into a Parent-Child relationship. To record an associative relationship between an evidence entity and a non-evidence entity, use a Related pattern not a Pre-Association pattern. For more information about the Related pattern, see the Related Pattern link.