Data sets define collections of records, allowing you to set up instances that make use of data abstraction to represent data stored in different sources and formats. Depending on the type selected when creating a new instance, data sets represent Visual Business Director (VBD) data sources, data in database tables or data in decision data stores. Through the data management operations for each data set type, you can read, insert and remove records. Data sets are used on their own through data management operations, as part of combined data streams in decision data flows and, in the case of VBD data sources, also used in interaction rules when writing results to VBD.
In addition to the data sets you define in your application, there are default data sets:
Only one instance of each of these data sets exists on the Pega Platform. You cannot create more instances or modify the existing one.
Data sets are referenced in data flows and, through the DataSet-Execute method, in activities.
Use the Application Explorer or Records Explorer to access your application's data set instances.
Data set instances are part of the Data Model category. A data set rule is an instance of the Rule-Decision-DataSet rule type.