Collecting and viewing data

This guide explains how to collect and view data in Adverity.

Introduction

After creating a Datastream, collect data from its source. In Adverity, data collection is called fetch. There are two types of fetch:

  • Manual, one-time fetch

  • Automated, scheduled fetch

After completing this guide, you will achieve the following:

  • Run a manual fetch that collects data from Facebook Ads.

  • View the fetched data in a table format.

  • Create and configure a scheduled fetch.

This guide uses the example of a Facebook Ads Datastream. The procedure described below is similar in all other Datastreams.

Prerequisites

Before you complete the procedure in this guide, perform all of the following actions:

Fetching data manually

To fetch data manually, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  1. Select the Facebook Ads Datastream.

  1. In the top right corner, click Fetch Data.

  2. (Optional) Fill in the following fields:

    Choose date range

    Choose the time period for which data is collected.

    Keep data in raw state

    Select this checkbox to achieve the following goals:

    • Keep the data in its original form and do not apply any enrichment assigned to this Datastream. For more information on enriching your data, see Introduction to enriching data.

    • Fetch the data without sending it to the Destination that you specified for this Datastream. For more information on transferring data to a Destination, see Introduction to transferring data.

    Fetch type

    Select one of the following options:

    • Select Run a single fetch including data from start until end to fetch all the data within the selected time period.

    • Select Rerun scheduled fetches in the time period specified to rerun scheduled fetches within the selected time period.

    Consolidate extract by fetch

    Select this checkbox to fetch the data into one Data Extract. If unchecked, Adverity creates a different Data Extract for each day.

    Businesses

    Select the businesses for which to fetch data. If left empty, data is fetched for all businesses.

    Accounts

    Select the accounts for which to fetch data. If left empty, Adverity fetches the data for all accounts.

    Campaigns

    Select the campaigns for which to fetch data. If left empty, Adverity fetches the data for all campaigns.

  3. Click Fetch.

In other Connectors, the entities which you can select in the Optional Filters for this Fetch section can be different. For example, in Google Search Ads 360, you can select agencies, advertisers, and accounts.

Viewing fetched data

To preview the most recently fetched data, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  1. Select the Facebook Ads Datastream.

  1. In the All tasks tab, find the task at the top of the list, and click Show extracts.

  2. Click the top hyperlinked element.

  3. The Data Extract is displayed in a table containing the data that you have fetched.

Creating a scheduled fetch

To create a fetch that runs automatically every day, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  1. Select the Facebook Ads Datastream.

  1. In the Scheduling section, click the toggle to enable scheduled fetches.

Scheduled fetches occur once every day by default. They fetch data for the time period which is typical for your previous usage preferences. By default, scheduled fetches run at a random time between 00:00 and 04:00 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time). The reason is that most data source APIs are based on UTC, which means that 00:00 UTC is the earliest time to import data for the last complete day.

Configuring scheduled fetches

To configure a scheduled fetch, follow these steps:

  1. Select the Workspace you work with in Adverity and then, in the platform navigation menu, click Datastreams.

  1. Select the Facebook Ads Datastream.

  1. In the Scheduling section, enable the toggle.

  2. In the Scheduling section, click + Add Schedule.

  3. Fill in the following fields:

    Frequency

    Choose how often the fetch runs. A week is considered to run from Monday to Sunday, inclusive.

    The date the scheduled fetch runs is called the scheduled date.

    Time of day UTC

    Choose the time when the fetch runs on the scheduled date. Specify the time according to the UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) standard.

    Time range

    Choose the time period for which Adverity collects data. Time presets work according to UTC.

    • To fetch data for the same dates each time the scheduled fetch runs, select Custom Time Range.

    • To fetch all data available from the Datastream each time the scheduled fetch runs, select Lifetime. This option is not available for all Datastreams.

    All the other options are relative to the scheduled date. For example:

    • Current Month fetches data from the first day of the month to (and including) the scheduled date.

    • Previous Month fetches data from the first to the last day of the month before the month the fetch runs.

    • Last 30 Days fetches data for the 30-day period preceding (and not including) the scheduled date.

    Offset to Execution Time

    (Optional) Specify the number of days with which Adverity shifts the scheduled date. A positive value shifts the scheduled date to an earlier date, a negative value shifts the scheduled date to a later date. This setting is not available if you use a Custom Time Range.

    For example, you specify Current Month in the Time range field, and 5 days in the Offset to Execution Time field. When the scheduled fetch runs on 3 April, Adverity shifts the scheduled date 5 days earlier to 29 March. With the Current Month setting, Adverity collects data from the first day of the month to the scheduled date, which means 1 - 29 March.

  4. Click Apply.

Repeat the process above to configure multiple scheduled fetches which run independently of each other.

In the following example, assume your account runs on Pacific Standard Time (PST) and you want to collect today's data every 2 hours. Time presets in Adverity work on UTC. Therefore, selecting Today in the Time range field would mean that fetches conducted between 0:00 and 8:00 UTC would be skipped. These early morning fetches would not return any data from the source due to the discrepancy between the time zones.

If you fetched data at 2:00 UTC on July 7 using the Today setting, the fetch would attempt to collect data for the whole day of July 7. However, at the time of the fetch, the local time for the data source is 18:00 PST on July 6. For this reason, the fetch would attempt to collect data for a future date and would return no data.

To resolve this issue, select the following options:

  • In Frequency, select Every 2 hours.

  • In Time range, select Last 2 Days.

  • In Offset to Execution Time, select -1.

These settings instruct Adverity to fetch data for yesterday and today in UTC time. Until 8:00 UTC, it is effectively today and tomorrow in PST time. Consequently, the fetches return the most recent data, even during the critical hours of 0:00 to 8:00 UTC when the dates for the two timezones are different.