Mapping templates and implicit object types in Customer Profiles
With mapping templates, you can ingest data from well-known sources without writing field and key definitions yourself. With implicit object types, you can use a template by name without explicitly creating it first. This topic explains both and how they interact with explicit object types.
Mapping templates
A mapping template is a predefined object type mapping included with Connect Customer Customer Profiles.
Templates exist for standard object types (such as _asset,
_case, _order, _communicationRecord,
_loyalty, and several travel records), for contact records
(CTR, CTR-NoInferred,
CTR-AutoAssociateOnly), and for third-party sources such as
Salesforce, ServiceNow, Marketo, and Zendesk.
For the complete, current list, use the ListProfileObjectTypeTemplates API.
Note
When you create an object type from a template, you can't also specify
Fields or Keys—the template provides them.
For non-standard object types, you can still set ExpirationDays
and EncryptionKey.
Implicit object types
You can use any object type whose name matches a template ID (as returned by ListProfileObjectTypeTemplates) without explicitly defining it. The object type uses the template's definition exactly. This is called an implicit object type.
Replacing an implicit object type with an explicit one
If you create an explicit object type whose name was previously implicit, your explicit definition replaces the template definition entirely—you can't partially override a template. Keep these behaviors in mind:
-
Subsequent ingestions follow the explicit definition.
-
The object type's
createdAttimestamp is set to the time you created the explicit definition. -
Already-ingested data is not reprocessed automatically. Existing objects retain the field values they were ingested with. For more information, see Update and validate an object type mapping in Customer Profiles.
