How are AEP Identity Namespaces related to AAM Data Sources
This article discusses the correlation between AEP Identity Namespaces and AAM Data Sources. Briefly, all AAM cross-device data sources created in AAM and all Customer Attribute data sources created in the People Core Service UI have a corollary AEP identity namespace and the deletion of the data source will result in the deletion of the identity namespace.
Description description
Environment
- Adobe Experience Platform (AEP)
- Adobe Audience Manager (AAM)
Issues/Symptoms
Is there a relationship between AAM (and Customer Attribute) Data Sources and AEP Identity Namespaces?
Resolution resolution
Yes. They are related in the following ways.:
- All AAM cross-device data sources created in AAM and Customer Attribute data sources created in the People Core Service UI since April 2019 have a corollary AEP identity namespace created with the same name in the same Experience Cloud Org, even if the Experience Cloud Org was not licensed for AEP.
- All AAM cross-device and Customer Attribute data sources created prior to April 2019 had their corollary AEP identity namespace created in April of 2019.
- Any automatically-generated identity namespaces have a pointer to but are not the same entity as their AAM cross-device or Customer Attribute data source counterparts. They are separate identities that are referenced in the same row of a lookup table on the Experience Edge.
- Only AAM cross-device and Customer Attribute data sources have an identity namespace counterpart. Cookie-based AAM data sources do not.
Given this information, here are some important caveats to be aware of:
- The deletion of an AAM cross-device or Customer Attribute data source will result in the deletion of the corollary identity namespace.
- Any updates to the AAM cross-device or Customer Attribute data source name or integration code will NOT be reflected in the AEP identity namespace UI.
- Any AAM cross-device data source integration code or Customer Attribute Alias created after April of 2019 with special characters (such as a hyphen or underscore) will result in a new identity namespace symbol consisting of 3 upper-case letters
- The identity namespace symbol should match the AAM cross-device data source integration code or Customer Attribute alias (even if it has special characters) IF the data source was created prior to April 2019 AND the integration code or alias has not been updated since then.
How does one practically apply this information?
If an existing AAM or Customer Attribute implementation needs to be maintained during a migration to the AEP Web or Mobile SDKs, then the way to pass the User or CRM IDs to AAM and Customer Attributes (what is historically done via the Set user ID function/method of the ECID Identity Service) is by setting the SDK Identity Map with the identity namespace symbol found in the AEP or Data Collection UI that corresponds with the AAM cross-device or Customer Attribute data source in question. Experience edge will see the identity symbol, look up the corollary AAM integration code or Customer Attribute alias, then forward the data collection hit with the correct AAM integration code or Customer Attribute alias, thereby allowing the AAM cross-device data source or Customer Attribute Alias to continue collecting user IDs for the AAM and Customer Attribute use cases utilizing those IDs.
Important Note: AEP will treat any identities passed via the identity map in the AEP Web SDK (or otherwise) as stitchable identities, even if the identity namespaces in question are not tied to a profile-enabled XDM field. This can be problematic if the IDs that need to be passed to AAM or Customer Attributes are not individual/profile-level IDs. This can lead to multiple AEP profiles being merged/collapsed into one if the ID in question were a household ID, for example, instead of an individual ID.
Helpful Hint: If it is not clear which AAM cross-device or Customer Attribute datasource may be related to a given AEP Identity Namespace, then calling the AAM API for one of the potential AAM data sources using this API call will return a JSON payload that contains the customNamespaceCode field. The value of that field should match whichever AEP Identity Namespace points to that AAM datasource. The same API call can be used to determine which Customer Attribute namespace is related to which AEP Identity namespace.
Related Reading:
AEP Web SDK Authenticated States in AAM: This article discusses the issue where cross-device IDs/data sources are not syncing or behaving in the same way as before you migrated.