How Adobe Experience Platform and applications work together
Adobe Experience Platform is the shared data and decisioning foundation that powers Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, and Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics (formerly known as Adobe Mix Modeler). When these applications share one profile, one set of data rules, and one event model, your teams stop rebuilding the same data pipelines and start reaching customers faster, with governance built in. This page explains how each part fits together.
Who should read this topic who-should-read
Use this table to see whether this topic matches your role.
Share this topic with marketers, product owners, and people who build or run the solution. After you read it, use step-by-step guides in Experience League for product tasks or technical details.
What you will understand after reading learning-outcomes
After you read this topic, you should be able to do the following.
- Describe Adobe Experience Platform: Explain what Experience Platform does as the shared base for data and data rules. You can explain this without naming a specific application.
- Describe each main application: Explain which business goal each application supports and what type of work it is for.
- Describe how Experience Platform and applications fit together: Explain how customer profiles, identities, data shapes (schemas), and data rules move from Experience Platform into applications. Explain why teams do not need to build separate, conflicting data pipelines for each tool.
- Connect a goal to the right part of the solution: For a sample goal (for example “run onboarding across email and mobile”), name which parts of Experience Platform and which applications usually support that goal.
In this topic, “your goals” means what your organization wants (for example growth, efficiency, or customer trust). “Your customers” means people who interact with your brand. Experience Platform and applications exist to help your teams serve those customers.
Adobe CX Enterprise cx-enterprise
Adobe CX Enterprise is the unified interface and shared services layer for Adobe’s customer experience portfolio. It is the top-level entry point for the customer experience stack: from Adobe CX Enterprise, open Adobe Experience Platform and Experience Platform applications (such as Real-Time CDP, Journey Optimizer, and Customer Journey Analytics) with:
- A shared header and navigation
- An application selector to move between products
- Central services such as Audience Library, Customer Attributes, shared assets, triggers, and Marketplace
Below CX Enterprise sits Adobe Experience Platform as the data and decisioning foundation (schemas, identity, Real-Time Customer Profile, segmentation, governance, data lake, Edge, and related services). Licensed applications such as Real-Time CDP, Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, and Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics build on that foundation. The sections that follow zoom in on the foundation and each application.
What are Adobe Experience Platform and its applications? platform
Adobe Experience Platform is the real-time data and decisioning base for experience applications such as Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, and Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics. Those applications are built on Experience Platform and share the same services for data, identity, profiles, audiences, and governance so your teams can move from insight to activation in one connected system instead of stitching separate tools together. Use Experience Platform to standardize and unify data once, then use applications to analyze, orchestrate, and activate experiences across channels at scale.
In typical workflows, teams access Experience Platform and these applications through Adobe CX Enterprise, described above.
Where to start with the full stack where-to-start
Use the following as a high-level order for using the full stack. Your organization can adapt the phases to your workflows.
How Experience Platform features, services, and applications differ feature-service-application
Adobe Experience Platform includes features and services. It also supports licensed applications that package workflows for specific jobs.
Purpose of each application applications-at-a-glance
In this documentation, an application is a licensed Adobe product that runs on Adobe Experience Platform. Applications use the same customer profile, data structure, identity links, and data rules as Experience Platform. Each application adds its own screens and workflows for a type of work (for example sending audiences to channels, running journeys, or reporting results).
The table below lists each application. It gives a short description and main purpose. It does not list every application edition. What you can access depends on your license.
Other applications and editions on Experience Platform other-applications-and-editions
The table above describes four applications that work together in many implementations of Experience Platform. Your organization may also use related licensed offerings that sit on the same foundation (schemas, Identity Service, Real-Time Customer Profile, segmentation, and governance). The table below lists examples. It does not replace product-specific documentation. What you can access depends on your license, region, and Adobe portfolio.
Product names, editions, and what is sold can differ by license and country or region.
Map your goals to Experience Platform and to applications goals-map
Use this table to see what you want, what Experience Platform provides, and which applications help.
How Adobe Experience Platform provides value platform-alone
The subsections that follow show how the platform foundation turns into value for your teams.
- The same data and rules
- Faster paths to audiences, analysis, and activations
- Governed use across tools
Adobe Experience Platform is the base layer for customer experience data. It is not a single marketing screen. It is built on services that run in the background. You set up data, identity, and rules once. Licensed applications reuse that foundation, which speeds time to audiences, analysis, and activations that teams can run with confidence.
Before you open an application, Experience Platform can do the following.
In short, Experience Platform unites customer data, applies rules, and prepares data for use, so the value of that work shows up in applications (audiences, journeys, analytics) instead of remaining trapped in one-off data projects. It does not replace the full screens that applications provide for journey design, media workflows, or cross-channel reports. Applications provide those experiences.
Experience Platform services at a glance core-platform-services
This table lists core services and summarizes what each one does.
These areas support an end-to-end pattern:
- Collect data from channels and systems.
- Bring events and attributes together under shared schemas and identities.
- Apply governance, consent, and segmentation to qualify the right people and actions.
- Activate audiences and attributes to your selected destinations.
- Measure results, statistics, and performance.
That flow is how raw data on Experience Platform becomes customer insight and activations you can use in your applications, with one governed stack instead of a separate data path for every channel or team. Data rules apply at each step.
How the applications provide value applications-alone
The table below adds detail. It shows what each application does and what goal it supports.
- Each application is a full workflow for a type of work (for example activation, journeys, cross-channel analysis, or marketing measurement) on the same Real-Time Customer Profile and data rules on Experience Platform.
- Applications are the user experiences and screens on that foundation. Each one helps your teams do a main type of work. All of them draw from the same profile and data rules, so you do not copy the full data stack for each product.
When to use each application when-to-use-each-app
Use the following table to find the right application for your primary business goal.
AI Assistant and agents in key applications app-ai
Agentic AI and AI Assistant are available in Adobe CX Enterprise when you work in supported applications, within each product’s roles and permissions. Capabilities and agent names can change. Always check current product documentation for your organization.
In short, applications are how teams do their daily work (activation, journeys, analysis, marketing measurement). Experience Platform is what holds the customer data and rules that all of those teams trust. Experience Platform also offers SQL querying and other capabilities through the features and services above.
How Experience Platform and applications work together platform-and-apps-together
Experience Platform and applications are built to be used as one system.
- A shared data, identity, and decisioning base
- Applications for activation, orchestration, analysis, and measurement
- For most work, a common entry and shared services in Adobe CX Enterprise
The subsections below show that system from a few views so you can match the stack to your role. The first view is a high-level stack table covering Experience Platform, applications, and the CX Enterprise experience layer, followed by a stage view of how work runs end to end.
Experience Platform stack inside Adobe CX Enterprise cx-enterprise-stack
The table below shows the high-level architecture. Adobe CX Enterprise is the experience, shared-services, and AI entry layer. Experience Platform is the foundation. Applications run on Experience Platform.
Experience Platform and applications working together means three things.
- One customer profile, many products: Real-Time Customer Profile, Identity Service, and data rules are shared. Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, and Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics read from that same base (and related data). You do not maintain one customer list for analytics and a different list for marketing unless your process requires it.
- One set of event and field definitions, many use cases: Data is shaped with XDM schemas. The same event can feed reporting, journeys, and audience rules. Teams spend less time arguing about definitions.
- One place for data rules: You apply labels and policies to the data in Experience Platform, and applications use that governed data. You do not have to define compliance again inside each product, separate from the data the product reads from the platform.
The End-to-end flows table below maps everyday work to the same stack using Know, Decide, Activate, and Measure stages. For diagram-based views of layers and connections, see Adobe Experience Platform and applications (architecture diagrams) in the architecture blueprints collection.
End-to-end flows (how work runs across Experience Platform and apps) end-to-end-flows
This table maps the Know, Decide, Activate, and Measure stages to your platform work and describes what applications usually add.
Example: Full-stack workflow across all four applications example-full-stack-workflow
The scenario below shows one common pattern. Your teams might change the order or skip a step. The goal is to show how Adobe Experience Platform and Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, and Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics can all appear in the same workflow.
The scenario example-scenario
A retail brand runs a seasonal acquisition and onboarding program. Leadership wants to plan spend, reach new buyers with paid media, welcome new customers with messages, and report on results. The brand uses unified customer data on Adobe Experience Platform.
What happens in the workflow example-steps
The steps below summarize a typical workflow. The order is illustrative. Teams often overlap or reorder work.
- Adobe Experience Platform: Ingest, identity, and profile to provide the data foundation the other steps rely on.
- Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics: Plan spend and channel mix for the program using connected marketing and outcome data.
- Real-Time CDP: Build and activate audiences, and use suppression lists where needed.
- Adobe Journey Optimizer: Run welcome and lifecycle journeys and messages.
- Customer Journey Analytics: Measure paths from touch to purchase and show how programs perform.
Adobe Experience Platform
Teams bring in web and app events, orders, consent, and cost or performance data from ads where available. Data uses shared XDM schemas. Identity Service links known customers. Real-Time Customer Profile updates as people shop and sign up. Data rules and consent are stored on Experience Platform.
Without this step, the applications below have nothing reliable to read.
Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics (formerly known as Adobe Mix Modeler)
Marketing and finance review how channels contribute to sales and how to split budget across media for the season. They use models and planning views that draw on harmonized marketing and outcome data connected to Experience Platform.
This step answers “how should we invest” at a planning level. It is not the step for email or for day-to-day audience builds.
Real-Time CDP
Acquisition teams build audiences (for example likely buyers or people who left items in a cart). They activate those audiences to advertising and other destinations. They may also build suppression audiences so current customers are not targeted as prospects.
This step answers “who should we reach or exclude in paid and owned channels.”
Adobe Journey Optimizer
Lifecycle teams run a welcome journey after a purchase or signup. The journey listens for profile or event conditions, branches (for example first purchase vs repeat), and sends email or mobile messages.
This step answers “what message or path does this person get next.”
Customer Journey Analytics
Analytics teams build reports and dashboards on the full path from ad touch to purchase and onboarding. They measure funnels, channels, and segments using the same event and profile-backed definitions the business uses elsewhere.
This step answers “what happened in the journey and which parts worked.”
Teams often run the applications in parallel across a quarter. Marketing Campaign Analytics updates may happen on a slower cycle than live audiences or journeys. That is normal.
How the applications work together example-together
The following list shows how the applications work with each other to provide a complete solution.
- One profile and one event model. The same person and the same events flow from Experience Platform into Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, and Customer Journey Analytics. Marketing Campaign Analytics uses connected and harmonized data from Experience Platform. It may use summaries (for example, weekly spend) as well as event-level data, depending on setup.
- Different jobs, same truth. Real-Time CDP determines who to reach. Adobe Journey Optimizer runs what happens next after an action. Customer Journey Analytics shows what occurred across steps. Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics helps teams see when and how to shift budget at a higher level.
- Data rules travel with the data. Labels and consent on Experience Platform affect which profiles can be used in segments, journeys, and reporting.
Example: Cart abandonment workflow example-cart-abandonment
The table below shows a second common pattern. It highlights insight to audience to orchestration on the same profile and events. It does not include Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics. Your steps and order can differ.
Configuration cautions configuration-cautions
The following table lists common problem areas and what to verify.
Guardrails and limitations guardrails-and-limitations
Adobe publishes guardrails for Adobe Experience Platform and for each application. Guardrails describe limits, expected performance, and safe ranges for configuration. They help you avoid errors, slowdowns, or unstable behavior. Guardrails are not service level agreements (SLAs). They do not guarantee speed or uptime in a legal sense.
Your contract, product description, and sales order might set contractual limits or entitlements. Those rules can differ from general documentation. When in doubt, refer to your agreement and Adobe account team, together with Experience League.
Where to read more where-to-read-more
Use the following help topics to go beyond this overview.
- Experience Platform and application guardrails: Overview of how guardrails work across Experience Platform and applications.
- Guardrails for data ingestion: Ingestion throughput and related limits.
- Real-Time CDP guardrails: Audiences, activation, and Real-Time CDP usage.
- License usage: Data management and license usage practices on Experience Platform (where applicable to your org).
If your workflow leans heavily on Customer Journey Analytics, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics, or Query Service, read the guardrails topics for those products in their product help as well.
Roles and handoffs roles-and-handoffs
This table summarizes which roles are often involved at each stage and which parts of the stack they use.
Terminology terminology
This topic uses the following terms in specific ways.
- Adobe Experience Platform: Shared services and features: bringing data in, data modeling, Identity Service, Real-Time Customer Profile, segmentation, destinations, data governance, privacy, services such as Query Service, and features such as sandboxes. For how those terms differ, see How Experience Platform features, services, and applications differ.
- Adobe CX Enterprise: The unified interface and shared services layer through which you typically access Experience Platform and Experience Platform applications. See Adobe CX Enterprise.
- Applications: Licensed products on Experience Platform (for example Real-Time CDP, Adobe Journey Optimizer, Customer Journey Analytics, Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics) that package workflows for specific jobs. They are not the same as Experience Platform services such as Query Service and Identity Service. Related editions and applications appear in Other applications and editions on Experience Platform.
- Adobe Marketing Campaign Analytics (formerly known as Adobe Mix Modeler): Licensed application for marketing measurement and planning (including marketing mix modeling). Experience League product help may still use the former product name and mix-modeler paths while documentation is updated after the product rename.
This matches the way the Experience Platform documentation overview groups content.
Additional resources additional-resources
The following help topics and collections expand on the concepts in this page.
- Adobe Experience Platform integrations: How other Adobe CX Enterprise products connect to Experience Platform (sources and destinations).
- Adobe Experience Platform overview: Main entry points for help.
- Experience Platform documentation overview: How help topics are organized.
- Adobe Experience Platform and applications (architecture diagrams): How Experience Platform and applications fit together at a high level.
- Digital experience blueprints: Example designs by use case and industry.
For hands-on learning, see tutorials and courses in Experience League on Experience Platform Web SDK, XDM and schemas, identity, segmentation, and destinations.