On this page: Understand what data sources are and how to choose the right data access strategy so you can bring additional data into your journeys for conditions, personalization, and timing.
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
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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.
- Is the data only useful inside the journey context and not needed elsewhere? If the data is also needed for audiences or other channels, consider Options 2 or 3.
- Is the external system accessible through an API endpoint that returns the required attributes? If not, you will need to ingest the data into the Data Lake first.
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.
- Do records contain an identity field that can be used to access profiles already stored in Experience Platform? If not, journeys will not be able to access and deliver to profiles.
- Is the data NOT needed for audience creation or identity stitching outside of Journey Optimizer? If it is, use Option 3 instead.
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.
- Data synchronization — External databases must be synchronized, with alerts in place to identify ingestion failures.
- Profile guardrails — Profile-specific guardrails apply in addition to the general data ingestion guardrails for Experience Platform.
- Identity integrity — Identity data in your source systems must be carefully planned to maintain healthy identity graphs.
- Data Lake utilization — Overall storage consumption, table relationships, and addressable profiles must be assessed before ingestion.
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.
This section contains structured knowledge intended to support interpretation, retrieval, and question answering related to this topic.
For complete understanding, this information should be combined with the documentation on this page. Neither source is intended to stand alone; the page describes the feature, while this section provides additional context that helps disambiguate terminology, intent, applicability, and constraints.
- TL;DR: This page explains what data sources are in Journey Optimizer, the two types available (the built-in Adobe Experience Platform data source and external data sources), and how to choose between three data access strategies before configuring one.
Intents:
- Understand what a data source is and when a data source configuration is needed
- Distinguish the pre-configured Adobe Experience Platform data source from external data sources
- Choose a data access strategy among the three available options
- Understand what field groups are used for on a data source
- Decide whether to access external data via custom actions, ingest into a dataset, or use a profile-enabled dataset
Glossary:
- Data source: A configuration that defines a connection to a system to retrieve additional information used in journeys for condition definition, parameter and personalization data in actions, custom wait definition, and time zone definition (product-specific)
- Pre-configured Adobe Experience Platform data source: The built-in data source that defines the connection to the Real-time Customer Profile Service (product-specific)
- External data source: A data source you create to define a connection to external systems (product-specific)
- Field group: A set of fields that can be retrieved from a data source (product-specific)
Guardrails:
- The data source configuration is always performed by a technical user.
- A data source configuration is not required if your journeys only leverage local data coming from an event payload.
- Schema relationships are not supported for data sources.
- Because responses are now supported, you should use custom actions instead of data sources for external data source use-cases.
- Before enabling a dataset for Profile (Option 3), assess data synchronization, Profile guardrails, identity integrity, and Data Lake utilization.
Terminology:
- Canonical name: data source — Acronym: n/a — variants: data source configuration
- Synonyms: “pre-configured Adobe Experience Platform data source” = “built-in data source”
- Do not confuse: “Adobe Experience Platform data source” (pre-configured, built-in) ≠ “external data source” (one you create)
- Do not confuse: “Option 2 — Dataset in Data Lake, not enabled for Profile” (persisted, not contributing to Profile) ≠ “Option 3 — Profile-enabled dataset in Data Lake” (persisted and enabled for Profile)
FAQ:
- Q: When is a data source configuration required? — It is not required if your journeys only use local data coming from an event payload; it is needed when you want to retrieve additional information for conditions, personalization, custom wait, or time zone.
- Q: What are the two types of data sources? — The pre-configured Adobe Experience Platform data source (built-in) and external data sources that you create.
- Q: How many external data sources can I create? — You can create as many external data sources as you need.
- Q: Which data access strategy should I choose? — Option 1 accesses external data via custom actions without persisting in the Data Lake, Option 2 ingests into a dataset not enabled for Profile, and Option 3 uses a profile-enabled dataset; choose based on persistence, profile enrichment, and reusability needs.
- Q: Are schema relationships supported for data sources? — No, schema relationships are not supported for data sources.