Schema

From Fmepedia

A schema can be described as the structure of a dataset, or more accurately as the formal definition of a dataset's structure. Data Model is a term with a similar meaning, but at Safe we like to use 'Schema'.

A source schema can also be called a "physical schema" since it's a physical representation of the data as it already exists. Because it is representative of an existing dataset, a source schema can not be edited within a workspace.

A destination schema can also be called a "logical schema" since it's a theoretical representation of a dataset that doesn't yet exist. The destination schema can be edited in a workspace because it is defining the dataset as we would like it to be structured.

In other words the source schema is "what we have" and the destination schema is "what we want"!

The process of selecting which parts of the source schema match which parts of the destination schema is called Schema Mapping.