A Siebel business component can contain single-value and multi-value fields. A single-value field can store one value at a time and a multi-value field can store more than one value at a time. A multi-value field has an associated multi-value link attribute that corresponds to the destination business component for this field.

A multi-group source contains groups for single-value and multi-value fields. All the single-value fields are part of the first group. The multi-value fields with the same multi-value link are part of the same group. The group containing the single-value fields is the parent group for all the groups in that source. The other groups are child groups of the parent group.

The following table shows an example of the Account business component with fields and groups:

An account name can be associated with multiple addresses. Therefore, each Account row can have multiple rows with Street Address and City columns. Multiple rows are stored as data of the CUT Address business component. An account name can be associated with multiple positions. Therefore, each Account row can have multiple rows with Position and Position ID columns. Multiple rows are stored as data of the Position business component.

The following figure shows the Account business component containing Position with a multi-value link attribute Position:

The Account source definition contains a group for Name and Account Number, a group for Position and Position ID, and the other group for City and Street Address.