A colony is a set of database schemas required to provide the complete multischema functionality offered by Sterling Warehouse Management System. Every colony consists of the following schemas:
Each colony has a Colony ID, such as Colony_E1E2. This colony name can be up to 40 characters in length. A unique, two-digit Colony Prefix further defines the colony. This can be from 10 – 99 (except 19 and 20). A DEFAULT Colony ID (Colony Prefix 20) is provided with every installation of Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Foundation.
In the previous Colony illustration, the Colony IDs are Colony_E1E2 and Colony_E3. You can define the Colony ID with the Manage Colony tool at installation time or later, as long as you ensure that no system activity, such as creating orders, takes place during the interval between installation and adding colonies. For more information about this tool, see Introduction to Managing Colonies.
In a multischema deployment, colonies also form a discrete unit that must be upgraded independently. The enterprises that belong to this colony must be migrated at the same time.
When you put enterprises into separate colonies, they cannot share inventory organizations, catalog organizations, capacity organizations, customer organizations and master organizations; they cannot participate with each other. In addition, no API returns data across multiple colonies, including list APIs, such as getOrderList and getShipmentList.
Each of the above schemas contains groups of tables that are used in Sterling Selling and Fulfillment Foundation.