What's New in the 20.01 Release of CI360

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This release of SAS Customer Intelligence 360 includes the following new features and enhancements.

 

Start an Activity with a Direct Marketing Task

You can now choose a direct marketing task as a starting node for an activity map. This feature enables you to use a bulk direct marketing task as the start of the customer journey. You can then use the Split node, a Wait period, or other task types downstream to continue to construct the customer journey.

When you use an on-premises direct marketing task as a starting node for an activity map, the direct marketing contact events are injected into the system from on premises. Those events trigger the movement of customers downstream in the activity. The rate at which the event injection takes place is limited to at most 1,000 events per second. If an on-premises direct marketing task is executed at the beginning of an activity map that contains 1 million customers, then the approximate time to inject all the direct marketing contact events is at least 1,000 seconds (approximately 16–17 minutes). It is also possible to trigger the on-premises direct marketing task at the beginning of the activity map by using the Task Execution API.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Digital and SAS 360 Engage Direct)

Define Grid Custom Properties in Assets

Administrators can now define grid custom properties in assets. Grid properties enable users to enter one or more rows with multiple columns of configured custom properties. Administrators define grids in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that is used for configuring custom properties. Grid custom properties give you more flexibility in capturing important business metadata to associate with assets.

(Available in SAS 360 Plan, SAS 360 Engage: Digital, SAS 360 Engage: Direct, and SAS 360 Engage: Email)

Create Filters on List Pages

You can create custom filters on some of the pages that support advanced filtering, such as Tasks or Segments. Custom filters enable you to reuse the same filter multiple times, instead of re-creating it.

For example, you might want to save a filter for active web tasks. You can select Web for the channel filter criteria and Active for the status filter criteria, and then save the criteria as a new filter. Custom filters persist across sessions, so an applied saved filter is applied the next time that you sign in.

Note: Current saved filters do not include any search criteria entered in the ‘filter’ entry box to the left of the filter icon.

Custom filters are supported on these pages: Activities, Tasks, Segments, Data Views, Messages, Creatives, Events, and Spots.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Digital, SAS 360 Engage: Direct, and SAS 360 Engage: Email)

Append and Replace Option for On-Premises Export Templates

On the Export Content tab of an on-premises direct marketing task, you can now choose to either append or replace the named export file. Choosing to append to the export file adds records to the existing export file. Alternatively, choosing to replace the export file overwrites the existing named export file each time the task is executed.

To select either option within the on-premises direct marketing task, click the Export Content tab for the task, and then select Edit under Customize the export table and its settings. The Append and Replace options are available on the Properties tab of the Edit Export Table page.

Append and Replace Options

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Direct)

Copy and Save As Options Available for On-Premises Export Templates

After an on-premises export template is saved, you can create a copy of the template. This new feature enables you to reuse existing templates that might require only slight modifications to become new templates. You can use the default incremented export template name that is created automatically, or you can enter a new template name.

When you edit an existing on-premises export template, you can also now select Save As to save a new template using the existing content. You can save the template under a new name that is either automatically created or entered by you.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Direct)

Pre-populate Templates for On-Premises Exports

Now, when creating an export template, the system pre-populates the output name field and the format field using data found in the information map. This feature reduces the time that it takes to create an export template.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Direct)

Additional Metadata Available in the Segment Selection Box

When you use the segment selection box to add an on-premises segment to a direct marketing task, it can be difficult to identify the segment that you want to use. To enable you to better identify segments, an information icon is added in the right column next to each segment in the Select Criteria window. You can now click the icon for a segment to display these items: the segment's status, publish date, last modified date, the name of the user that last modified it, the segment map that is associated with the segment, the customer identifier that is used in the segment, and the source of the segment.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Direct)

Information Map Folder Paths Displayed in Criteria Nodes and On-Premises Export Templates

When data items are displayed in Criteria nodes or in Export templates, the displayed name for the data items indicates the directory where the data items are located. This feature enables users to identify the source of the information for the data items.

For example, if an item’s name is "Phone Type - Customer/Phone Numbers," the name indicates that the data item is named “Phone Type” and is located in the Customer directory in the Phone Numbers subdirectory. The data item’s name is separated from the primary directory by a "-". Subdirectories are separated by a "/".

The directory path information is also displayed when a data item is selected, enabling users to understand the context of the selection.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Direct)

 

New Macro Variables Created for Segment Map Code and Task Code

New macro variables are now available for Segment Map Code and Task Code for use in a Process node. Additional custom attributes are added to the Macrovar table for these items:

• For a post-process node in an on-premises direct marketing task:
  • on-premises direct marketing task custom attributes
  • segment custom attributes
  • segment map custom attributes for the segments used in the task
  • activity map custom attributes if the task is part of the activity
• For a Process node in an on-premises segment map:
  • segment map custom attributes

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Direct)

New External System Task Designer Role

Administrators can now assign users or groups a new role for external system task designers. This role enables administrators to give users and groups access to external system functionality without granting them access to other areas.

The External System Task Designer role enables users to create and edit external system tasks. The role also grants Read-Only access to other items (such as segments, creatives, and events) that might be needed to create or edit an external system task.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Digital, SAS 360 Engage: Direct)

Restrict Ability to Configure API Users

The ability to configure API Users is now limited to people who have the SAS Administrator role in SAS App Central. Previously, users with the Configuration Admin role could access this menu item by selecting General Settings on the navigation bar, and then selecting External=>API Users.

Restricting access to only SAS administrators provides enhanced control over access to areas in SAS Customer Intelligence 360 through the API. This restriction is consistent with the existing limitation that allows only SAS administrators to access the Users category (to define groups and assign roles) within General Settings.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Digital, SAS 360 Engage: Direct, SAS 360 Engage: Email, SAS 360 Discover, SAS 360 Plan)

 

Operating System Support for Android Mobile Devices

Beginning with the 19.10 release, support is provided for Android 10, which was released in September 2019. As of the 20.01 release, Android 5 is no longer supported. Support is provided for devices that use Android 6 or later.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Digital)

 

Changes to Geofence Handling in Android

The SAS Customer Intelligence 360 mobile SDK is updated to address key changes to Google’s mobile operating system (mobile OS):

• The SAS Customer Intelligence 360 mobile SDK prescribes to Google’s guidelines for geofence registration and interactions, so no changes are required by our customers and their mobile app developers.
• The mobile SDK is built using the latest release of the Android SDK build tools.
• The mobile SDK performs a “version-check” to ensure that the SDK initializes only for Android versions that are supported by SAS. For information about our support policy for mobile operating system platforms, see SAS Customer Intelligence 360: User’s Guide or contact your Global Customer Success manager.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Digital)

Redesigned Mobile Identity Call

A new Identity API call enables a mobile app developer to confirm the identity of the mobile app user before requesting personalized content for the user. This new feature ensures that the mobile app user receives the appropriate personalized content in the mobile app.

The SAS Customer Intelligence 360 mobile SDK now executes an Identity call to register the login of the mobile app user synchronously.

(Available in SAS 360 Engage: Digital)

 

Replace Assigned Groups within Workflow Tasks

As a workflow manager, you can assign workflow tasks to users or groups. For an active or not yet initiated workflow task, when you assign a task to a group, you now have the option to replace the group.

For example, if the originally assigned group is incorrect or not available, you might need to assign the workflow task to a different user or group. This feature enables you to avoid potential delays due to incorrect or unavailable workflow task contributors.

(Available in SAS 360 Plan)