It seems like this is a 'known bug', but I wasn't able to track it down today. I"m using 10.2.2. I have a external SQL server business database that I need to import to a geodatabase and ultimately join to my data. I need to rename several of the fields as well as concatenate a few of the fields into a newly added one (first name, middle initial, last name) for a name field when do this.
I created a small model containing the tool Table to Table and used the optional Field Map to change the field names as I bring this table in. The model runs, as far as bringing in the table into my file geodatabase, but it completely ignores all the field map settings, including the added field I'm attempting to concatenate with a merge rule.
I tried this w/o the concatenation and that made no difference. The output table still retains all the original field names.
I see there is a tool to alter fields now, but 1) I have several fields to deal with and 2) it seems like I ought to be able to do this through Table to Table without additional steps.
