Conditional DELETE/INSERT/UPDATE in MERGE - oracle

Question

I came across two example regarding MERGE with conditional DML
First example,
MERGE INTO bonuses D
USING (SELECT employee_id, salary, department_id FROM employees
WHERE department_id = 80) S
ON (D.employee_id = S.employee_id)
WHEN MATCHED THEN UPDATE SET D.bonus = D.bonus + S.salary*.01
DELETE WHERE (S.salary > 8000)
WHEN NOT MATCHED THEN INSERT (D.employee_id, D.bonus)
VALUES (S.employee_id, S.salary*.01)
WHERE (S.salary <= 8000);
I tend to understand that in MERGE, only the target table (D here) is modified. When we put a DML in WHEN, it is to act on the target table D. So in this case what do the conditions have to do with S, as in the DELETE and UPDATE clause. When do the WHERE come into action ? After the matching ? On the source/target before ON ?
Another related example with one more question
MERGE INTO destination d
USING source s
ON (s.id = d.id)
WHEN MATCHED THEN
UPDATE SET d.description = 'Updated',
d.status = 10
DELETE WHERE s.status = 10;
and
MERGE INTO destination d
USING source s
ON (s.id = d.id)
WHEN MATCHED THEN
UPDATE SET d.description = 'Updated',
d.status = 10
DELETE WHERE d.status = 10;
I don't get the difference between 2 scenarios : source versus target table in the WHERE clause.
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

There are two parts to the MERGE operation: WHAT action to take (update of some sort, including inserts and deletions) - this is always ONLY on the target table; and WHEN to take the action - what condition must be met to initiate the update. The condition must refer to something in the target table, but it also refers to the source table.
In your first example: the target table only has employee id's and bounses. You want to increase each bonus by 1% of base salary, for each employee - and to add a bounus (when there was no row for that employee) for employees who weren't assigned a bonus at all. So you can't only look at the target table, you must also look somewhere else, where salaries are stored. In this case, "WHEN MATCHED" makes sure you look at the same employee id in both tables. Then you increase bonus by 1% of base salary; base salary is read from the source table. Then you delete the bonus altogether (there will be no row for the employee id in the BONUS table) if the employee has a base salary greater than 80,000 - that must be a business decision reflected in the database. So you see how you need to refer to data in places other than the target table, even though the changes themselves only affect the target.
In your second example, the effect will be the same.

Answer 2

In the first example,
1. Employees belonging to department 80 are identified. These employees may or may not have a bonus record against their employeeID in bonuses table.
2. If a bonus already exists in bonuses, increment bonus in bonuses for this employee by 1 percent of their salary. After that, if employee's salary is more than 8000 he must not have bonus, so remove his bonus record from bonuses.
3. if no bonus already exists and if employees salary is not more than 8000 add a new bonus record.
The sequence in this case for understanding purposes would be ON, WHEN MATCHED, THEN UPDATE, WHERE, DELETE, WHEN NOT MATCHED, WHERE, INSERT
In the second example,
query 1: If source record exists in destination,
a. update destination description and status.
b. Then if the source status is 10, then delete the record with same id from destination.
query 2: If source record exists in destination,
a. update destination description and status.
b. Then delete that record from destination.
In query2 update is redundant unless there are any triggers updating other tables.
The sequence in this case for understanding purposes would be ON, WHEN MATCHED, THEN UPDATE, WHERE, DELETE
Hope this helps.