Data Feeds are a powerful tool to sync your data from external sources into your Mapp Engage system. This article explains step by step, how to set up Data Feeds in Mapp Engage.

Prerequisites

In order to set up Data Feeds, you need to configure your FTP connections (including path and regex) in the Credentials section.

Common Use Cases

  • Add contacts to Mapp Engage
  • Update contact attributes in Mapp Engage
  • Remove users from Mapp Engage
  • Send an email (prepared message) with parameters to contacts
  • Add data to your custom Related Data tables where their email is the key attribute
  • Add multiple location data to your locations database
  • Add data to predefined Related Data: Transactions, Wish List and Abandoned Cart

Procedure

A) Create a generic integration via Mapp Connect

Data feeds are set up the same way as a generic integration in Mapp Connect.


B) Set up import job

With one job you can import a few files that fit the regex expression and are of the same data type (e.g. user, transaction, email, abandoned cart, wish list, location).

  1. Go to the Data Import tab and click Add New Import.
  2. The Import Configuration tab opens. Here you can define all the details of the import job:
    1. Add job name. The name has to be unique.
    2. Runs every.
      Here you can specify a detailed schedule of your job. 
    3. Set job status.
      Select Enabled or Disabled here.

      Only set the job status to Enabled when all columns for incoming data are mapped.

C) Define import steps

  1. Import from FTP/SFTP.
    Select the connection from the drop-down list click Test Connection. You will receive an alert if the connection test fails.
  2. (optional) Unarchive file. To remove this step from the import workflow, click the minus sign .
    Supported formats: .zip, .tar, .gz, .tar and .gz
    If the archived file is protected by a password, you can enter it here. This option is only available for the .zip format.
  3. (optional) Convert file. To remove this step from the import workflow, click the minus sign  .

    Note that if you import multiple files, encoding and delimiter must be the same for all the files.


  4. Upload to S3. This is when the data is uploaded to Mapp's S3 server. This step cannot be configured.
  5. Create event. This step allows you to define what happens with the data upon import.
  6. This step provides an import report from Mapp Engage.
  7. Update mapping.
    Click on Edit Mapping and adjust it as needed.

     Edit Mapping

    1. Go to the mapping you want to edit and click Edit.
    2. Edit the name in the pop-up window that appears. The description is optional.
    3. To configure the mapping, click Edit Field Mapping.
    4. Click the plus sign.
    5. The Edit Mapping Information window opens. Here you must define the details of the mapping for each source (data in your API call).

      1. Add source(s) lets you specify one or more data sources that are included in your API call. For example: email, phone number, etc.
      2. Source Transformation lets you define whether any data should be changed during import. Read more about data transformations here.
      3. Choose Mapping subtype lets you chose from four options: User, Email, SMS and Push. 

        This subtype matches the event type name from the API call. If there is no mapping for the even type, the call won't be processed.

        For example, to send an email, you have to define a mapping with the subtype Email.

      4. Destination attribute lets you specify where the imported data will be mapped. For every mapping subtype, all the required fields are already defined by default in Mapp Engage. All you need to do is add the matching name from your JSON payload (source), and if needed, add additional values. Your custom and member attributers must be defined in Mapp Engage (see Attributes).

        Mapping sources and destinations are case sensitive!

    Example

    JSON payloadUser mapping
    { 
       "subtype":"user",
       "first":"firstval",     
       "second":"secondval"
    }
    CODE


  8. (optional) Add monitoring users. Here you can add the email addresses of people who should be receiving error logs from the system.
  9. Click Save.

D) View imports & monitor import progress

You can see all the created imports on the Data Import tab.

Click on the Running label to observe the progress of the job real-time.


Further Information