Lytics Conductor Guide
This course is designed to teach you about Lytics Conductor — your data-stitching, ID-resolving, and profile-building toolkit.
Introduction
Overview and Objectives
Conductor enables Lytics users to have complete control and visibility into how inbound user activity data is materialized into unified user profiles. The primary feature areas we will cover are:
- The NEW Conductor dashboard.
- How to manage your data pipeline.
- How to define your profile schema.
- How to manage and monitor your identity resolution strategy.
Training purpose? Get a high-level overview of how to access and leverage Conductor's most powerful features.
By the end of this training, you will have learned how Conductor puts the power of pipeline and identity resolution features into our user's hands!
Key Terminology
Let's start with some key terms you should get familiar with:
- Schema
- Fields
- Mappings
- Pipeline
- Sources
- Destinations
- Profiles
- Streams
For full definitions, please see our documentation at https://docs.lytics.com/docs/getting-started-with-conductor
Try Matching each Conductor term to its corresponding definition:
| Pipeline | Allows you to flexibly update how and when data is mapped onto user profiles. |
| Mapping | Have standard metadata such as name and description as well as the typical properties you'd expect from a traditional database column (kind, capacity, etc.).) |
| Sources | Expressions that provide instructions for how to perform transformations, if any, on raw data. |
| Streams | Utilized to monitor workflows and data streams to ensure pipeline is healthy. |
| Schema | Gather data from an external system and ingest it into Lytics on data streams. |
| Fields | Send data from Lytics to external systems such as Google, Facebook, and Liveramp. |
| Profile | Data from multiple sources combined into a single view. |
| Destinations | Logical distinctions among data sources in either type or scope. |
| Identity Keys | Used to identify distinct users with which to associate the data. |
Dashboard
Intro + Video Training
The Conductor Dashboard provides a top-level view of critical Conductor operations such as Source and Destination activity, stream statistics, changes to your schema, and various other activities.
Read (15 Min): https://docs.lytics.com/docs/getting-started-with-conductor
Watch: the "Dashboard Overview" video (~3 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions in the next section to check your understanding!
Follow Up Questions
Check your Knowledge!
What data is included in the "Stream Activity" section of the dashboard?
A. All incoming data
B. All incoming and outgoing data
C. All outgoing data
D. None of the above
Answer: A
Where would I look to see if an Destination is having trouble?
A. Stream Activity
B. Schema Summary
C. Recently Viewed
D. Diagnostics
Answer: D
Can you see what unpublished changes have been made to the schema from the dashboard view? Yes, by navigating to the "Schema Summary" section.
What sort of information can be found in the "recently viewed" component?
A. Profiles that have been viewed recently.
B. Fields and mappings that have been viewed recently.
C. Sources and Destinations that have been viewed recently.
D. All of the above
Answer: D
Pipeline
Getting familiar with "Pipeline"
Is your account running into latency issues? Are my Sources and Destinations performing as expected? The Pipeline summary is your first line of defense in understanding the health of your data pipeline.
Watch: the "Dashboard Pipeline" video (~2 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
Where can I see the average amount of time it is taking to process new inbound events into attributes on user profiles?
A. Pipeline Latency
B. Total Events Processed
C. View Sources
D. View Destinations
Answer: A
What sort of information can be found on the pipeline summary? A summary of all Sources & Destinations, event counts, and real-time event processing performance.
How do I navigate to current Destinations?
A. Use the "Destinations" item under the "Pipeline" section in the main navigation
B. By clicking "View Destinations" within the "Destinations Summary" component
C. All of the above
D. Neither
Answer: C
Introduction to "Sources"
Sources allow you to easily aggregate rich behavioral data from a wide range of tools across various marketing channels.
Read (15-20 Min): https://docs.lytics.com/docs/data-onboarding
Watch: the "Introduction to Sources" video (~3 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
If a Source fails where can you find the reason?
A. The "Metrics" section of the Source summary.
B. The "Status" column of my Sources list.
C. The "Logs" section of the Source summary.
D. That information isn't available so you'll have to contact support.
Answer: C
Where can you find the current configuration for a Source integration? Within the configuration tab, you'll find a JSON view of imported fields, frequency, stream, and other important metadata related to that provider.
Where can you find the user who originally created the import?
A. Under the Sources list.
B. This is not displayed in the UI.
C. The upper right corner of the import under "Created By."
D. Under the configuration tab.
Answer: C
Understanding "Streams"
The Streams view in Conductor can be used to monitor all incoming events. Here we'll surface total counts from all streams passing data to Lytics and all the raw keys we've seen.
Watch: the "Understanding Streams" video (~3 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
How can you see some sample data for one of the keys in a data stream?
A. Click on field name under in the "Raw Keys" tab.
B. Under the "Recent Events" tab.
C. All of the above.
D. None of the above.
Answer: C
Interested in events over time? Use the "start" and "end" dates within the chart view to alter the date range. Toggle the frequency dropdown to define the window size shown on the x-axis.
Introduction to "Destinations"
Destinations are the opposite of Sources. They allow you to easily deliver your audiences and profiles to various channel tools for campaign activation.
Watch: the "Introduction to Destinations" video (~2 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
How would you see only the currently running Destinations?
A. Filter the list of Destinations where status is "Running."
B. All Destinations shown in the UI are currently running.
C. This is not something that can be seen in the UI.
Answer: A
Where can I see the which authorization is being used for a Destination?
A. In the Destination list view select the "Authorization" link from the table.
B. Go into the Destination and click on the "Authorization" link.
C. All of the above.
D. None of the above.
Answer: C
Schema
Managing your "Schema"
The Schema overview monitors changes to fields, their associated mappings, ranks, and the overall status of Schema versions.
Read (15 Min): https://docs.lytics.com/docs/schema-management
Watch: the "Managing your Schema" video (~4 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
Where can I see which fields and mappings have been modified but not published?
A. Click on my "Draft" schema version.
B. Click on the "view fields" link.
C. Click on the "view mappings" link.
D. Click on the "Publish Changes" button.
E. Both A and D
Answer: E
Where can you see how many new fields have been added to the schema but are not published?
A. The "New" section of the fields module.
B. This is not displayed in the UI.
C. The "New" section of the mappings module.
Answer: A
Creating and Editing "Fields"
In the Fields section of Conductor, you'll perform all management tasks related to creating or modifying the fields surfaced onto user profiles.
Watch: the "Creating and Editing Fields" video (~6 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
How do I add a new "Identity Key" to my schema?
A. Add a new mapping to a field and check "This is an Identity Key" box.
B. Add a new field and check the "This is an Identity Key" box.
C. All fields are Identity Keys by default.
D. Both A and B.
Answer: B
Before starting this next section, we recommend you review the common data types and merge operators found here.
Match the most common merge operators with their most commonly associated data type.
| string, int, number, boolean, date | Latest/Oldest |
| []string, []date | Merge |
Hint: "Latest" stores the last value it has seen for the field. "Oldest" stores the oldest value it has seen in the field. "Merge" will either append data to the field or not update if it is a duplicate of what is already stored in the field.
"Mapping" Event Data to Fields
The Conductor "Mappings" section provides the tools to translate raw data from a stream to the proper user field(s).
Watch: the "Mapping Event Data to Fields" video (5 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
How do I edit an existing mapping?
A. Go to the main navigation's "Mappings" section and click on an existing mapping, then click "edit."
B. Navigate to the "Fields" section, click on an existing field and then click on the current mappings tab followed by "edit."
C. There is no way to edit mappings.
D. Both A and B.
Answer: D
How are fields different from mappings? Fields define what attributes appear on the profile and what features can be used for audience building. Mappings populate the profile with data and determine what and how data should populate the field.
Introduction to "Ranks"
The "Ranks" view of Conductor allows users to manage the rank order of their available identifiers.
Watch the "Introduction to Ranks" video (~2 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
How do I update a "Rank" statement?
A. Click the up or down arrow on the ID row that needs to be re-positioned.
B. Ranks cannot be adjusted.
C. Use the ranks API to manage the order of IDs.
D. Both A and C
Answer: D
How do I add a new ID to a "Rank" statement?
A. All IDs will automatically get added to the rank statement when added to the schema.
B. Go to the "Ranks Manager" and add a new ID.
C. IDs cannot be added to the "Rank" statement.
Answer: A
"Visualizing" a Schema
The schema "Visualization" in Conductor provides a graphical representation of your schema for exploration. This visual approach allows for an improved understanding of the relationships between mappings, their sources, and the overall identity strategy.
Watch: the "Visualizing a Schema" video (2 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer a quick question to check your understanding!
What is the best way to use the visualization view? Filter on the streams you are interested in before expanding the view.
Identity
Digging into Identity
The Identity summary provides a top-level view of how profiles are merged and which Sources might need more attention.
Read (20 Min): https://docs.lytics.com/docs/bulletproof-identity-resolution
Watch: the "Digging into Identity" video (~2 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
What does the "total" column represent?
A. The total number of times this ID has been used.
B. The total number of profiles with this field populated.
C. The total number of profiles that could have this ID.
Answer: B
Exploring Identities
The Explorer view in Conductor is used to analyze an individual profile. Here you'll be able to gain insights into what data exists, how the profile is coming together or not coming together, and how you may improve your overall strategy.
Watch: the "Exploring Identities" video (~3 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
What does the details section of the profile showcase?
A. Attributes that have been added to the profile.
B. Audience entries and exits.
C. Campaign impressions and conversions.
D. Lytics behavioral scores for a single user.
E. Lytics Content Affinities for the selected user.
F. All of the above.
Answer: F
Need to delete the profile for GDPR? Clicking "Delete Profile" will remove the profile and all corresponding event data.
Are the identifiers that make up the profile as well as when they were added available in the UI?
A. Yes, In the "Details" tab.
B. No, This information is not available in the UI.
C. Yes, click on the "Identity" tab on the profile and it will display all of the identifiers and their corresponding created date.
D. A and C.
Answer: C
Can the profile be downloaded? Yes, by clicking the download profile button.
Identity Rules
Identity Rules in Conductor can be used to enhance your identity resolution strategy at the account level.
Watch: the "Identity Rules" video (~2 min)
Check your Knowledge:
Then answer some quick questions to check your understanding!
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