On this page: Understand how Adobe Experience Platform standard and relational schemas define the structure of your data so you can model profiles, behavioral events, and relational entities for personalization and orchestrated campaigns in Adobe Journey Optimizer.
Adobe Journey Optimizer relies on Adobe Experience Platform schemas to describe the structure of data in a consistent and reusable way. A schema provides an abstract definition of a real-world object (such as a person) and outlines what data should be included in each instance of that object (such as name, birthday, and so on). When data is ingested into Experience Platform, it is always structured according to an XDM schema.
Standard & relational schemas
There are two types of schemas in Adobe Experience Platform:
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Standard schemas are hierarchical schemas that use classes and field groups to capture record or time-series data.
A standard schema is composed of:
- A class (which defines the data behavior: record or time-series).
- One or more field groups (which add specific fields to the schema).
In Journey Optimizer, standard schemas are typically used to represent individual people and their attributes, capture time-series interactions such as clicks, purchases, or logins, and power Real-Time Customer Profile for segmentation and personalization.
➡️ Learn how to create and configure a standard schema in this video (video)
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Relational schemas are flat, non-hierarchical schemas that do not use classes or field groups. They are used to capture record data for relational entities and are primarily used in Journey Optimizer Orchestrated campaigns.
Examples of relational entities include:
- Bookings, contracts, or subscriptions
- Products or catalogs
- Stores, locations, or partners
With relational schemas, you can send one message per entity (e.g., per booking, per subscription), create segments based on entity attributes (e.g., product category, store location), and improve addressability by reaching all contacts linked to an entity.
How relational schemas work:
- Create schemas manually or import via DDL
- Link schemas to define relationships between entities and people (e.g., loyalty transactions linked to members, rewards linked to brands).
- Ingest data into your dataset from supported sources.
➡️ Learn how to manage relational schemas and datasets
➡️ Get started with Orchestrated campaigns
How-to video video-schema
Learn how to create a standard schema, add field groups, create, and configure custom field groups.
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 how Adobe Experience Platform standard and relational XDM schemas define the structure of your data so you can model profiles, behavioral events, and relational entities in Journey Optimizer.
Intents:
- Understand what an XDM schema is and how it structures ingested Experience Platform data.
- Distinguish standard schemas from relational schemas.
- Choose a class (record or time-series) and field groups for a standard schema.
- Model relational entities for Orchestrated campaigns.
- Understand the permanence of enabling a schema for Real-Time Customer Profile.
Glossary:
- XDM schema: an abstract definition of a real-world object that structures data ingested into Experience Platform (product-specific)
- Standard schema: a hierarchical schema that uses classes and field groups to capture record or time-series data (product-specific)
- Relational schema: a flat, non-hierarchical schema that does not use classes or field groups, used for record data for relational entities and primarily in Orchestrated campaigns (product-specific)
- Class: the schema component that defines data behavior (record or time-series) (product-specific)
- Field group: the schema component that adds specific fields to a schema (product-specific)
- Real-Time Customer Profile: the profile that standard schemas power for segmentation and personalization (product-specific)
Guardrails:
- Enabling a schema for Real-Time Customer Profile is permanent: once enabled, the schema cannot be disabled or deleted (hard constraint).
- Datasets built on an enabled schema can be disabled or deleted separately, but doing so removes the associated profile records and may affect segmentation and activation workflows.
- Relational schemas are flat and do not use classes or field groups.
Terminology:
- Do not confuse: “standard schema” (hierarchical, uses classes and field groups) ≠ “relational schema” (flat, no classes or field groups)
- Do not confuse: “class” (defines record versus time-series behavior) ≠ “field group” (adds specific fields)
- Do not confuse: “record” behavior ≠ “time-series” behavior
FAQ:
- Q: What are the two types of schemas? — Standard schemas (hierarchical) and relational schemas (flat, non-hierarchical).
- Q: What is the difference between a class and a field group? — A class defines the base behavior (record or time-series); field groups add specific fields to the schema.
- Q: When are relational schemas used? — Primarily in Journey Optimizer Orchestrated campaigns, for relational entities such as bookings, products, or stores.
- Q: Can I undo enabling a schema for Profile? — No; once enabled, the schema cannot be disabled or deleted, although its datasets can be disabled or deleted separately.
- Q: How do I create a relational schema? — Create it manually or import via DDL, then link schemas to define relationships and ingest data from supported sources.