Loading data into Adobe Analytics

This guide explains how to load data into Adobe Analytics for further analysis.

Limitations

Loading data into Adobe Analytics comes with the following limitations:

  • After loading data into Adobe Analytics, it takes Adobe Analytics a substantial amount of time to process the data. For more information on data processing guidelines, see the Adobe Analytics documentation. Below are some typical data processing times:

    • Processing data from the current day takes approximately 2 hours to complete after the data upload.

    • Processing data from the previous day takes approximately 3 hours to complete after the data upload.

  • Only Adobe Analytics Support can remove the data from the Adobe Analytics destination. For more information, contact Adobe Engineering Services.

Prerequisites

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

  • Create a datastream whose data you want to load into Adobe Analytics. For more information on creating a datastream, see Creating a datastream.

  • Ensure that the account you use to connect to Adobe Analytics is an Adobe Analytics Service Account. For more information, see the Adobe Analytics documentation.

  • In the data extract, ensure the following columns are present.

    • Ensure one of the following three User Identifier fields is included:

      • marketingCloudVisitorID

      • IPAddress

      • customerID.[customerIDType].id

    • Ensure one of the following four Page Identifier fields is included:

      • pageURL

      • pageName

      • pe

      • queryString

    • Ensure the following fields are included in the data extract:

      • timestamp

      • userAgent

      • customerID.[customerIDType].isMCSeed (this is only required if ustomerID.[customerIDType].id is selected above in the User Identifier field).

  • (Optional) If events data is to be loaded into Adobe Analytics, the data must be in a specific format. Create a transformation script that puts the events data in the correct format. For more information see Advanced Adobe Analytics events data configuration.

Procedure

To load data from a datastream into Adobe Analytics, follow these steps:

  1. Add Adobe Analytics as a destination to the workspace which contains the datastream or to one of its parent workspaces.

  2. Assign the Adobe Analytics destination to the datastream.

    You can assign as many destinations to a datastream as you want.

    Some destinations require specific Data Mapping, such as Hubspot and Facebook Offline Conversions. If these Data Mapping requirements conflict, the destinations cannot be assigned to the same datastream.

  3. Configure the Data Mapping of your datastream to conform with Adobe Analytics destination standards.

  4. Configure load settings.

  5. Enable data loading into the destination from the datastream.

Adding Adobe Analytics as a destination

To add Adobe Analytics as a destination to a workspace, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Destinations page.

  2. Click + Create destination.

  3. Search for and click Adobe Analytics.

  1. Choose how to authorize Adverity to access Adobe Analytics:

    • To use your details, click Access Adobe Analytics using your credentials.

    • To ask someone else to use their details, click Access Adobe Analytics using someone else's credentials.

      If you choose this option, the person you ask to create the authorization will need to go through the following steps.

  2. Click Next.

  1. In the authorization page, fill in the following fields:

    API Key (Client ID)

    The API Key of the Adobe Analytics account. For instructions on how to find your API Key, see the Adobe Analytics documentation.

    Client Secret

    The Client Secret of the Adobe Analytics account.

    Technical account ID

    The Technical account ID of the Adobe Analytics. Enter in the following format: id@techacct.adobe.com.

    Organization ID

    The Organization ID of the Adobe Analytics. Enter in the following format: org_id@AdobeOrg.

    Private key

    The Private key associated with your Adobe Analytics Service Account. The Private key must be PEM encoded and include the following boundaries: (-----BEGIN [Private Key] -----END).

  2. Click Authorize.

  3. In the Configuration page, fill in the following fields:

    Name

    (Optional) Rename the destination.

    Company id

    Select the Company id from the drop-down list.

    Report suite id

    Select the Report suite id from the drop-down list.

  1. Click Create.

Assigning Adobe Analytics as a destination

To assign the Adobe Analytics destination to a datastream, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Datastreams page.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  1. In the Load section, click + Add destination.

  1. Select the Adobe Analytics checkbox in the list.

  2. Click Save.

  3. For the automatically enabled destinations, in the pop-up window, click Yes, load data if you want to automatically load your previously collected data into the new destination. The following data extracts will be loaded:

    • All data extracts with the status collected if no other destinations are enabled for the datastream

    • All data extracts with the status loaded if the data extracts have already been sent to Adverity Data Storage or external destinations

    Alternatively, click Skip to continue configuring the destination settings or re-load the data extracts manually. For more information, see Re-loading a data extract.

Configuring Data Mapping for Adobe Analytics

All data that you load into Adobe Analytics must conform with Adobe Analytics standards. To configure Data Mapping for the Adobe Analytics destination, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Datastreams page.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  3. In the top navigation panel, click Data Mapping.

  4. For each cell in the Target fields column, enter the value displayed in the Target column in the table below. Enter the values into the Target fields column exactly as they appear.

    The data extract contains one of three User Identifier values. Enter one of the following User Identifier values into the Target fields column:

    Name

    Target

    IP address

    IPAddress

    Marketing cloud visitor ID

    marketingCloudVisitorID

    Customer ID

    customerID.[customerIDType].id

    If the value of customerID.[customerIDType].id is in the data extract, ensure the value of customerID.[customerIDType].isMCSeed is also in the data extract.

    The data extract will contain one of four Page Identifier values. Enter one of the following Page Identifier values into the Target fields column:

    Name

    Target

    Page URL

    pageURL

    Page name

    pageName

    Type of custom link

    pe

    Query string containing data

    queryString

    For more information on the queryString column, see the Adobe documentation.

    The data extract contains the following Required fields values. Enter the following values into the Target fields column:

    Name

    Target

    Time stamp

    timeStamp

    User agent

    userAgent

    Customer ID seed

    customerID.[customerIDType].isMCSeed

    In addition to the required fields, all fields listed in the CSV Column and Query String Reference in this section of the Adobe documentation can also be loaded.

The Data Mapping changes are saved automatically.

Configuring settings for loading data into Adobe Analytics

To configure the settings for loading data into Adobe Analytics, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Datastreams page.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  1. In the Load section, find the Adobe Analytics destination in the list, and click Actions on the right.

  2. Click Destination settings.

  1. Fill in the following fields:

    User Identifier

    Select the column in the data extract used to identify users. Ensure the selected User Identifier is entered into the target column of the Data Mapping exactly as it appears here. For example, if marketingCloudVisitorID is selected as a User Identifier, enter marketingCloudVisitorID into the target column of the relevant row of the Data Mapping.

    If customerID.[customerIDType].id is selected, then customerID.[customerIDType].isMCSeed must be selected in Required fields. A customerID.[customerIDType].isMCSeed must also be present in the data extract with a value of 1 (this corresponds to a value of TRUE). Do not enter the value of 1 in quote marks as this causes the value to be omitted from the query string.

    Page identifier

    Select the column in the data extract used to identify pages. Ensure the selected Page Identifier is entered into the target column of the Data Mapping exactly as it appears here. The value of pageURL is selected by default.

    Required fields

    Select the following required fields:

    • timestamp

    • userAgent

    Ensure the selected values in Required fields are included in the data extract. Check the target column of the Data Mapping and ensure the column names are exactly the same as the select value names.

    Ensure customerID.[customerIDType].isMCSeed is selected in Required fields if customerID.[customerIDType].id is selected in the User Identifier field.

  2. Click Save.

Enabling data loading into Adobe Analytics destination

To enable data loading into the Adobe Analytics destination from the datastream, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the Datastreams page.

  2. Open the chosen datastream by clicking on its name.

  1. In the list in the Load section, find the Adobe Analytics destination, and enable the toggle.

  2. In the pop-up window, click Yes, load data if you want to automatically load your previously collected data into the newly enabled destination. The following data extracts will be loaded:

    • All data extracts with the status collected if no other destinations are enabled for the datastream

    • All data extracts with the status loaded if the data extracts have already been sent to Adverity Data Storage or external destinations

    Alternatively, click Skip to only load data extracts collected in the future or re-load the data extracts manually. For more information, see Re-loading a data extract.

Advanced Adobe Analytics tips

For information on loading Adobe Analytics events data into the Adobe Analytics destination using a custom transformation, see Advanced Adobe Analytics events data configuration.