Get started with data sources about-data-sources
The data source configuration allows you to define a connection to a system to retrieve additional information that will be used in your journeys, for:
- condition definition
- parameter and personalization data in actions
- custom wait definition
- time zone definition
➡️ Discover this feature in video
This configuration is not required if your journeys only leverage local data coming from an event payload. For example, if your journey is composed of an event followed by a channel action activity that only uses data from the event, there is no need to configure a data source.
There are two types of data sources:
- The pre-configured Adobe Experience Platform data source that defines the connection to the Real-time Customer Profile Service. This is a built-in data source. See this page.
- The external data sources that allow you to define a connection to external systems. These are the ones you can create. See this page.
For each data source, you define the information to retrieve using field groups. Field groups are sets of fields that can be retrieved from a data source. See this page.
Choose your data access strategy data-access-strategy
Before configuring a data source, consider which approach best fits your use case. Three options are available, each with different trade-offs in terms of persistence, profile enrichment, and reusability. For a detailed discussion of these options, see Best practices for advanced journeys in Journey Optimizer.
Option 1 — Access external data via Custom Actions (no Data Lake)
Connect directly to an external API at journey runtime without persisting data in the Experience Platform Data Lake. Best suited when:
- The data is only useful within the journey context and not needed elsewhere.
- The external system is accessible through an API endpoint that returns the attributes needed.
Learn more about custom actions and custom action responses.
Option 2 — Dataset in Data Lake, not enabled for Profile
Ingest data into a dataset to trigger and personalize journeys based on contextual event data, without contributing to the Real-Time Customer Profile. Best suited when:
- Records contain an identity field usable to access profiles already stored in Experience Platform.
- The data is not needed for audience creation or identity stitching outside of Journey Optimizer.
Option 3 — Profile-enabled dataset in Data Lake
Ingest data into a profile-enabled dataset to create audiences, enrich identity graphs, and leverage data across multiple journeys and RT-CDP destinations. Best suited when:
- The data is useful for audience definitions used in channels beyond Journey Optimizer.
- The data contains multiple identities that contribute to richer, stitched profile fragments.
For more information on how to configure an Adobe Experience Platform Data Source and an external data source and how to find and use data in a journey, watch this tutorial video.
How-to video video
Understand what a data source is and learn how to configure Experience Platform and external data sources.