Get to Know Unified Profiles

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Explain the benefits of unified profiles.
  
• List the types of Individual data model objects.
  
• Describe the difference between unified profiles and golden records.
  

Data Cloud

Data Cloud harmonizes customer data across multiple systems into unified profiles. In this module, you explore some important data unification concepts that help you make the most of Data Cloud. These include unified profiles, data modeling, the Customer 360 Data Model, and identity resolution data mapping requirements. Ready to get started?

Data and Identity

First, let’s watch an overview of data and identity.

Want to learn more about how to create your company’s data strategy? Check out the Trailhead module Customer Data Platform Strategy.

Unified Profiles

Unified profiles in Data Cloud link data from multiple sources into a single profile based on user-configured identity resolution rules within a ruleset. Identity resolution rules tell Data Cloud how to find relationships between data to create the unified individual. Let’s look at an example of how multiple profiles get linked to one unified profile.

Meet Rachel Rodriguez, a customer (and super fan) of outdoor gear and apparel retailer Northern Trail Outfitters (NTO). NTO has data about Rachel in multiple systems like a customer profile in Commerce Cloud and Marketing Cloud Engagement, a customer support case history in Service Cloud, and more. However, each system has different information about her (like different email addresses). We call these unique pieces of data contact points (phone number, email address, or physical mailing address). 

Customers, like Rachel, are represented by multiple contact records and system-specific profiles across various systems, which is necessary for each cloud and product to operate independently. For a marketer or service rep, connecting the dots in order to send a marketing campaign to Rachel or find a single view of her support history, can be tricky.

That’s where Data Cloud data mapping and identity resolution can help. First, map data to a standardized set of objects and fields. Then, create an identity resolution ruleset with match and reconciliation rules. Finally, Data Cloud finds relationships between data based on these rules. If the same data exists in multiple places, profiles are linked together.

With identity resolution rules in place, NTO’s view of Rachel Rodriguez includes a unified profile with data from multiple sources. 

You can view unified profile information in Profile Explorer. Rachel’s unified profile updates as new profiles are matched to it or existing ones are updated, which ensures that the data you have is the most accurate representation of Rachel.

Types of Individual Data Model Objects (DMOs)

Data model objects (DMOs) are groupings of data in the Customer 360 Data Model that describe an instance of a thing or action. Each DMO has attributes, a standardized piece of data that describes the DMO.

There are three types of individual DMOs. Each type contains different pieces of data from the source profile and the unified profile. Let’s look at the DMOs through each phase of Rachel’s example.

First, Rachel’s profile is ingested into Data Cloud and mapped to the individual DMO. (More about data mapping in the next unit.)

Identity resolution runs. Match rules link Rachel’s Commerce profile to the unified profile, and reconciliation rules combine individual attributes with the unified attributes.

The unified individual by itself is not the unified profile. The unified profile is made up of both the unified link individual DMO and unified individual DMO. With the unified profile, you have access to both source data and reconciled data.

Updating Unified Profiles

Unified profiles are mutable, which means they change to improve the accuracy of the profile. A unified profile updates as the source data changes, new data sources are processed, or you make changes to the identity resolution rules. Profiles can get added or removed from the unified profile.

For example, Rachel has a Sales Cloud profile, but it’s not in her unified profile. The sales agent misspelled her name.

Rachel’s Sales Profile

• First Name: Rochelle
  
• Last Name: Rodriguez
  
• Email: rrodriguez@example.com
  

This is our active match rule:

• Fuzzy First Name
  
• Exact Last Name
  
• Exact Email Address
  

Rachel’s first name doesn’t qualify as a fuzzy match, so when we processed the profiles for identity resolution, Rachel’s Sales profile isn’t matched with her other profiles. Now Rachel has two separate unified profiles in Data Cloud, which isn’t ideal.

Rachel’s tired of getting sales emails addressed to “Rochelle,” so she contacts the sales agent and gets her name fixed. When the identity resolution runs again, her Sales profile is linked to her unified profile! Now she has one unified profile with all of her data.

Unified Profile vs. Golden Record

Master Data Management (MDM) is a common data management style that brings together data from other sources into a central hub. The goal of an MDM strategy is usually a consolidated ‘best’ record for each customer, called the golden record. At first glance, Data Cloud’s unified profile might sound similar to a golden record. Let’s compare the similarities and differences.

Think of a unified profile as a key ring. Let’s see why.

Unified Profiles as Key Rings

A key ring links your keys together, such as your house key and your car key. A key ring doesn’t turn all your keys into the same key or choose a ‘best’ key; instead it organizes them into a single object that you can grab easily. Keys can also be easily moved for your key ring to someone else’s key ring.

Similarly, a unified profile is a key ring that links your keys, or IDs, from across Salesforce. Each linked ID stays unique. With a unified profile, you gain access to your data across Salesforce.

Sometimes the unified profile has several IDs from one system. For example, the key ring above has multiple Subscriber IDs from Marketing Engagement. Marketing Engagement tracks subscriber details by contact point, but its data model doesn’t support more than one email address or phone number per contact. If a customer interacts with multiple contact points, you’ll have multiple subscriber IDs. Data Cloud links these subscriber IDs to one unified profile, so you can access the contextual data for each subscriber ID.

In the next unit, learn how to create unified profiles.

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Unify Source Profiles
• Trailhead: Customer Data Platform Strategy