Shape the data

About this phase

The layer between collection and reporting: processing rules, VISTA rules, marketing channels, and classifications, and the order Adobe applies them.

Data arrives raw, and raw is rarely what anyone wants to read. Campaign codes arrive where campaign names belong. The same value arrives spelled three different ways. Traffic arrives with nobody credited for having sent it.

Something has to sit between collection and reporting and deal with that. This phase is that layer. Some of these tools act at the moment data arrives and cannot be undone afterwards. Others add meaning later, without touching a byte of what was collected. Knowing which is which, and when each one runs, is the difference between a mistake you can fix and one you live with.