Data export use cases data-export-use-cases
This section provides data export use cases and how to implement these use cases with one or more functionalities of Customer Journey Analytics or Experience Platform. Each functionality is further detailed in a separate article.
Introduction
One of the unique differences between Adobe Analytics and Customer Journey Analytics is related to the processing of data for attribution and sessionization. See Compare data processing across Adobe Analytics and Customer Journey Analytics for more information.
Adobe Analytics: collection time attribution and sessionization.
In Adobe Analytics, all events are processed live and in order by device ID, allowing Adobe to generate, store, and export clickstream data with persisted or attributed values at collection time, including:
- Dimension persistence (for example, campaign tracking codes that expire after 90 days).
- Visit number and sessionization.
- Dimension values, calculated by processing and VISTA rules.
This impacts the export of data from Adobe Analytics:
- Data processing is static after initial collection.
- Data feeds include “post” columns, which reflect the collection-time processing.
Customer Journey Analytics: query-time attribution and sessionization
In Customer Journey Analytics, events are not collected in order and a person ID is used instead of a device ID, allowing Customer Journey Analytics to update attribution and sessionization at report time. This type of data collection introduces flexibility, like:
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Stitching can replay data daily or weekly, associating anonymous events with known events. See Stitching for more information.
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Sessionization and persisted values change every time
- new data is collected or
- stitching adds events to a person’s history.
The report-time processing impacts the export of data from Customer Journey Analytics. Exports that include persisted values do not match Customer Journey Analytics reports and values diverge over time.
For metric consistency, use of the new features in Customer Journey Analytics is preferred. In general, Experience Platform and Customer Journey Analytics data export functionality exceeds the data feed functionality of Adobe Analytics. Experience Platform and Customer Journey Analytics provide:
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new data sources and processing subject to data export
- include non-digital data sources,
- apply custom attribution and sessionization based on business rules, and
- keep customer journeys updated with stitching.
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implementation of tailored data export use cases
- export data to where you need it, including Business Intelligence (BI) tools and cloud destinations,
- keep data synchronized with Analysis Workspace through BI tools integration,
- no need to duplicate processing logic in your own systems,
- new support for calculated metrics, derived fields and segmentation, and
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consideration of security and data governance
- monitor all data export by user and destination,
- set limits on what data is available for export, and
- set alerts for delivery issues and limits on scheduled delivery windows.
Use cases and functionalities
In general, data export supports a number of use cases. Each use case is different in terms of the data that is required and how to access and export that data. Experience Platform and Customer Journey Analytics provide a number of functionalities that either independently or combined can solve the various use cases. The table below provides an overview of identified data export use cases and the Experience Platform and Customer Journey Analytics functionalities to implement these use cases.
Retain a complete copy of your digital data for compliance or regulatory purposes.
Export data collected in Experience Platform directly to cloud destinations on a schedule or ad-hoc.
Evaluate clickstream data for data collection accuracy.
Interactive PostgreSQL interface to execute ad-hoc SQL queries using your favorite SQL tool to validate the data in your datasets.
Customer Journey Analytics: Export full table
Validate processed data from CJA with attribution and sessionization applied.
Bring digital data into your own BI tools or Data Lake for use with additional datasets.
Add Customer Journey Analytics processed metrics to data visualization tools such as Power BI and combine with additional data for custom reports
Experience Platform: Query Service (Data Distiller) & Export datasets
Generate customized clickstream data using SQL to be delivered to cloud destinations.
Enhance Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning models and tasks with Customer Journey Analytics data.
Export Customer Journey Analytics processed dimensions and metrics to cloud destinations one-time or recurring, including calculated metrics and segmentation.
Experience Platform: Query Service (Data Distiller) & Export datasets
Generate customized clickstream data using SQL to enrich AI / ML models.
Give individual users or business teams self-service access to processed Customer Journey Analytics data, without setting up a data pipeline.
Download or email data directly from an Analysis Workspace project for one-time analysis or sharing.
Customer Journey Analytics: Report Builder
Pull Customer Journey Analytics data into Excel workbooks for recurring, business-user-friendly reporting.
Power dashboards, internal tools, or automated workflows with Customer Journey Analytics data.
Retrieve Customer Journey Analytics data programmatically to integrate with your own applications or automation.
Choose between functionalities
Several functionalities can implement the same use case. When you choose between them, consider:
- Data volume: Ad hoc methods, such as Workspace export and Report Builder, are limited to tens of thousands of rows. Export full table and Export datasets support millions of rows.
- Raw versus processed data: Export datasets and Query Service (Data Distiller) & Export datasets deliver raw, unprocessed data from the data lake. BI extension, Export full table, Workspace export, Report Builder, and the Reporting API deliver data that Customer Journey Analytics has already processed, including attribution, sessionization, and calculated metrics.
- Technical expertise: Query Service (Data Distiller) & Export datasets and the BI extension require SQL knowledge. Workspace export and Report Builder use point-and-click interfaces. The Reporting API requires programming knowledge.
- Scheduling needs: Export datasets, Export full table, and Report Builder support recurring, scheduled delivery. Workspace export downloads are ad hoc only.
- Output format and destination: Consider whether you need a file in cloud storage, a table in a BI tool, a workbook in Excel, or a response from an API call, then match that to the functionality that delivers it.