Get Started with Grounding Agents in Data 360
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Explain why Data 360 is important for grounding agents.
- Ingest and map Case data in Data 360
As of October 14, 2025, Data Cloud has been rebranded to Data 360. During this transition, you might see references to Data Cloud in our application and documentation. While the name is new, the functionality and content remain unchanged.
Before You Start
Before you get started, consider completing this recommended content.
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Data 360-Powered Agentforce
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Retrieval Augmented Generation: Quick Look
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Hybrid Search for RAG: Quick Look
Data 360 and Grounded Agents
When agents are grounded in data from Data 360, they access a vast knowledge base of up-to-date, unified customer data. Grounded agents respond to customers more intelligently and effectively, replacing generic responses with personalized ones based on real customer experiences. In this badge, you implement a service agent that’s grounded in Case data from Data 360. You build a RAG-powered solution that includes a search index, retriever, and prompt template. The solution extracts relevant information from the unstructured free-form text fields in the Case records and grounds your agents’ responses.
Case Study
The company you’re working for is a leading provider of toaster ovens. As the company’s customer base grows, its service team is getting overwhelmed by customer inquiries. You’ve been tasked with building a service agent to alleviate stress on the service team and resolve customer questions. Your agent will use past customer cases to formulate their responses.
Let’s get started!
Sign Up for a Developer Edition with Data 360
To complete this badge, you need a special, limited-time custom playground that contains Data 360 and our sample data.
- Click Create Playground.
- Your new org is automatically attached to your Trailhead account.
- Make note of your org's expiration date and complete this badge before then.
Ingest and Map Case Data
The first step is ingesting Case data with free-form fields. To bring Case data into Data 360, create a data stream.
- In the App Launcher, enter and select Data Cloud.
- Select the Data Streams tab.
- Click New, select Salesforce CRM, and click Next.
- Click View Objects, then search for and select Case. Click Next.
- For the Object Category, select Profile.
- In the Standard Fields tab, deselect all fields. Leave the required fields System Modstamp and Case ID selected.
- Select the Subject and Description fields.
- Keep the selections in the Custom Fields tab. Click Next.
- Click Deploy. If you get a message about required fields, ignore it.
- Click on the Case_Home data stream.
- If the Last Run Status is None, click Refresh Now, Incremental Refresh, then click Refresh Now.
- Wait 10 minutes then refresh the page. Confirm that Last Run Status is Success and Total Records has a number before proceeding.
Now you’ve successfully ingested data into Data 360.
Map the Case Object
The data stream automatically creates a Case_Home data lake object (DLO). Next, map the Case_Home DLO to the Case data model object (DMO).
- In the Data Mapping panel, click Start.
- Under Data Model Entities, click Select Objects.
- Search for
Casein the All Objects panel, click the + button next to Case, then click Done. DLO and DMO fields are automatically mapped.
- Click Save & Close.
Finally, view your data in the Case DMO from Data Explorer.
- Click on the Data Explorer tab.
- For Object, select Data Model Object, then search for and select Case.
- Click the Description column twice to sort and show your Case data at the top.
Notice how the Description and Subject fields contain free-form text.
Turn On Agentforce
- Click the gear icon and click Setup.
- In the Quick Find box, search for and select Agentforce Agents.
- Turn on Agentforce Agents.
Next Up
Now your Case data is ready to be used in Data 360! Click Check Challenge for 500 points to move on to the next unit where you build a search index so the Cases are searchable.