Schema Design AEP email addresses from different sources

[benedikt-buchert]

I have a schema design question for Adobe Experience Platform.
As a user might have multiple email addresses. And I have two different source databases in each of those the same user might have signed up with a different email address. I have another CRM user identifier that tell me those two emails are the same person.

• Is it better to use a Schema for each source. So I have two separate email fields, with different structure, that do not get merged in the union profile if they are different.
• Or have two separate email address fields in the same schema that then might have the same address. with two imported datasets.
• Or is it possible to import them into an array field into the same schema from two datasets with the array being filled correctly? So 1 email -> array length = 1. Two different emails -> array length = 2

What are my best options here. When would you recommend using multiple Profile Schemas in AEP?

[PratheepArunRaj]

Dear benedikt-buchert,

Just sharing my thoughts here to help.

When you say two different source databases, they might or might not be similar, so it is always better to [1] create two schemas for two different sources and one more schema for the CRM (User identifier with two email) that can connect first two sources together using Union Schema.

[2] Assuming if the two source databases are exactly the same (most often it won't), then it is fine to add two mail IDs to the same schema and bundle it together making sure that we don't duplicating the attributes of Source Database 1 with Database 2.

[3] Guess this is tricky since the Email Identifier is a String by default. Never tried to create a custom field with an array type for Email, but still not recommended for different data sources right?

Thank You, Pratheep Arun Raj B (Arun) | NextRow Digital | Terryn Winter Analytics

[benedikt-buchert]

Thank you for your thoughts on this! Very helpful!

When using two schemas I assume I still need to structure them differently to have both emails not overwriting each other in the union profile?

[pradeep_nextrow · Accepted solution]

@benedikt-buchert Schema designs can be complex. As a best practice, I use one schema for each data source that I am ingesting. Still in one of my case an end-user can have/use multiple email IDs at different sites. We solved it by adding additional fields to the schema. One note of caution while using arrays. Arrays cannot be flattened and exported, esp to email marketing destinations. So putting these information in arrays would render them useless. Hope it helps!