Data Modeling (8 Questions)

You will be challenged to:

  • Configure account Contact model
  • Differentiate the various types and uses of data extensions
  • Describe how Contact Records relate across channels
  • Explain the Contact Delete process

Contact Builder

Contact Model

  • The data schema is applied per BU
  • Attribute Groups
    • "Contact Key" needs to be linked to field of same data type
  • Relationships between Data Extension
    • 1 to 1
    • 1 to Many
    • Many to Many
    • Populations
  • Contact vs Subscriber
    • Contact is a person to send messages to - cross channel
    • Subscriber is a person who oped in to receive communications - channel specific
  • Contact Key vs Contact ID
    • Contact Key
      • Unique identifier you generate and assign to the contact
      • Links the contact with the channels and ... Contact ID
    • Contact ID
      • Numeric unique identifier generated and assigned by SFMC in the backend
      • It is used by the platform to indentify the contact and relates to the platform events such as: email send, email open
  • Contact Key vs Subscriber Key
    • They have the same concept, and the values should be the same

All Contacts

  • Where you find all contact records from 'all subscribers list' or Data Extensions set as population
  • Populations
    • It is recommended to have no more than three populations.
    • If you’re using the most up-to-date Journey Builder functionality, you won’t need to use populations most of the time. Instead, it’s best to save populations for specific use cases where you need to create complex queries, such as if your account uses field-level encryption or when you’re using API Entry Sources in Journey Builder.

Data Extension Types

  • Shared
  • Synchronized
    • Only after a send, the records on a synchronized DE will be registered in All Conctacts
  • Standard
  • Teamplate-Based Data Extension
    • Send Log Data Extension, Triggered Send Data Extension

Data Retention

  • Default behavior
    • Deletes unused data extension after 6 months
  • Retention settings
    • Recommended to define it when creating the data extensions - Especially for send logging
    • Once configured, the settings cannot be removed
    • You can apply data retention policy to an existing DE in Contact Builder, with less than 100 million records.
  • Options
    • To Delete
      • Individual records
      • All records
      • Both, records and data extension
    • To set period
      • After a period of time
      • Reset period on import - every time you add data to the DE, it resets the time
      • On specific date
  • It only cleans data from Data Extensions, it does not delete data from the Contact Framework.