Propagating Event Attributes in CI360 Activity Maps
This post will explain some key changes to how CI360 handles event attributes in activity maps. Event attributes from upstream events historically needed to be manually added to nodes in an activity. The trigger event with the required attributes had to be used as a targeting event before the attributes could be used . Additionally, the attributes often didn’t flow down correctly due to timing issues. The attribute values would be uploaded to the customer state vector (CSV) from the trigger event. The downstream tasks would then try and retrieve them, but the CSV may not have been refreshed in time. The next event could have triggered before the CSV had been updated, even by a matter of milliseconds and so the attributes would not be there. To get round this, wait nodes were often added, purely to allow some more time between nodes starting and finishing, and therefore increasing the chances of attributes being propagated correctly.
Select any image to see a larger version.
Mobile users: To view the images, select the "Full" version at the bottom of the page.
Changes
Starting in the February 2024 release, the event attributes from trigger events will automatically be available in all downstream nodes. This addresses the two issues that has been discussed:
Usability:
This change negates the need for the event to be added as a targeting event. It wasn’t very intuitive that this is what needed to be done, and therefore wasn’t a great user experience. Often, customers would miss this step and wonder why the attributes were not available. Now, they are automatically available for use. The screenshot below demonstrates this:
Timing/ Reliability:
There is no longer any need to add “dummy” wait nodes to allow for any timing discrepancies. The timings of the updates to, and retrievals from the customer state vector have been synchronised. It should be noted that the attributes are available downstream, but the attribute values themselves may change as the activity progresses. It is always the most recent value that gets used. For example, imagine a situation where an “add to cart” event is the trigger event. A customer starts an activity when they add a t-shirt to their cart. The customer then adds a pair of trousers to their cart. The “product name” attribute is available for use throughout the activity, but the value itself changes from “t-shirt” to “trousers”.
Further information
There is a live demonstration of this feature on the next release of the CI360 SAS Curriculum, in the “Creating Activities with SAS CI 360” section. Specifically “the Building a Cart Abandonment Activity” demonstration.
Find more articles from SAS Global Enablement and Learning here.
