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XDM Schema in Layman terms

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Dear All,

Could you please explain the Adobe XDM schema in Layman terms. Thank you

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Correct answer by
Community Advisor

"XDM" stands for "Experience Data Model". But you don't really need to know that for the purpose of a layman's description. Think of it as just a name that Adobe has applied to the schema, e.g. to "brand" it.

A "schema" is a specification of information. In the case of the XDM schema, the specification dictates how data must be arranged into a format (or structure) that Adobe Experience Plartform accepts.

You can think of it like ordering a meal at a restaurant. You are presented with a menu that contains categories like appetizers, mains, desserts and drinks, and you can order as many as each category. But you cannot order something that is outside of it, like groceries, because the chef at the restaurant's kitchen won't know what to do with that. Also, different restaurants can define their own menus, and some may have other categories (e.g. fruits) or omit some categories (e.g. appetizers).

Likewise, the XDM schema is like a restaurant menu. The Adobe organisation is the restaurant, and the XDM schema is its "menu", i.e. the data that the organisation has defined that it accepts. In your implementation ("meal order"), you ("restaurant customer") provide the data ("menu items") according to that schema, but you cannot add anything from a field group ("menu category") that is not included in the schema.

Hope that helps!

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Correct answer by
Community Advisor

"XDM" stands for "Experience Data Model". But you don't really need to know that for the purpose of a layman's description. Think of it as just a name that Adobe has applied to the schema, e.g. to "brand" it.

A "schema" is a specification of information. In the case of the XDM schema, the specification dictates how data must be arranged into a format (or structure) that Adobe Experience Plartform accepts.

You can think of it like ordering a meal at a restaurant. You are presented with a menu that contains categories like appetizers, mains, desserts and drinks, and you can order as many as each category. But you cannot order something that is outside of it, like groceries, because the chef at the restaurant's kitchen won't know what to do with that. Also, different restaurants can define their own menus, and some may have other categories (e.g. fruits) or omit some categories (e.g. appetizers).

Likewise, the XDM schema is like a restaurant menu. The Adobe organisation is the restaurant, and the XDM schema is its "menu", i.e. the data that the organisation has defined that it accepts. In your implementation ("meal order"), you ("restaurant customer") provide the data ("menu items") according to that schema, but you cannot add anything from a field group ("menu category") that is not included in the schema.

Hope that helps!

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Employee Advisor

I'll attempt an answer as well.

Do you have a lot of tools at home? Hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers?

Think of XDM as an organization system for those tools. An outline on the wall in the shape of that tool, so you can quickly see where it belongs.That outline is a model of that tool, capturing its shape and size. See the picture on this site:

https://www.garagejournal.com/the-tool-board/

 

It may seem like too much work to organize just your own tools that way. But, imagine everyone in your neighborhood is going to store their tools together in one garage. Having those outlines on the wall makes it really obvious to everyone where the tools should go. If an outline doesn't exist for the tool you have, you can easily add another one. Once everyone starts using the system, you can start doing cool things--hey, we have three hammers, I can finally work on my hammer juggling!

 

So, in this analogy the tools are your data, and the outlines on the wall are the individual XDM schema fields that are the model of your data. Your neighbors are all individual data sources, organizing their data according to the model you've created.

 

Also, if it helps I have an overview video posted here: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/platform-learn/tutorials/schemas/schemas-and-experience-data...