Some integrations with Adobe Audience Manager (AAM) require pushing audiences into the AAM platform. Each of these audiences is represented as an AAM Trait - more specifically an "Onboarded" Trait (yes, there are different types of Traits). The Trait must be created within the AAM account before all of the user data for the audience can be transferred.
This article will show you one method of creating an Onboarded Trait using the Bulk Management Tools (BAAAM v2). Other methods will be covered in separate articles, including using the AAM REST API and the AAM UI.
Prerequisites
- User Permissions - you must be able to sign in to the AAM user interface with a user that has adequate permissions to create Data Sources and Traits.
- Data Source - all Traits must be linked to a Data Source, so create one to hold your Trait(s) if you haven't already.
- Download the Bulk Management Tool xlms file - get the latest version from this Bulk Management Tools documentation page.
- the tool works with 64-bit Excel on Windows OS and Excel for Mac OSX
- Adobe ID tied to an Experience Cloud Org - you must be able to sign into the AAM user interface with an Adobe ID. Note: if required, BAAAM temporarily will also support the legacy (deprecated) Oauth method which works with a legacy AAM username/password - see Legacy auth in BAAAM
Step 1 - Create the Trait folder
All Traits must live inside of a Trait folder. Trait folders exist to keep Traits organized within a taxonomy.
To see the Trait folders you must first navigate to the Traits UI (Audience Data > Traits).
These folders can be seen in the Trait Storage view.
You create a new Trait folder by mousing over the folder that will become the parent to the new folder. You will see a + (plus) icon appear.
You will then type the new folder name and click "Save".
Your new folder has been created.
Discover the folder ID by clicking the edit (pencil) icon next to the folder name. You will need this folder ID when creating Traits within this folder.
Note, if you are a Marketplace partner, a Trait folder will automatically be created for you under the "3rd-Party Data" folder each time you create a new Data Source. The Trait folder will be named the same as your Data Source name. Use the steps above to add new sub folders as needed within those auto created folders.
It is also important to keep the following in mind with Trait folders -
- There is a limit on the total number of Trait folders that can exist for your account. That limit is 2,000 at the time this article was created. Look under Admin > Limits within the UI to see how you are tracking for this limit.
- Once you create a folder under the folder structure for one Data Source, do NOT move that folder to exist within the folder structure of a different Data Source. Doing so will result in visibility and access issues for customers that later subscribe to your data offering.
- You can create up to 3 levels of sub-folders beneath your data source folder. Trying to create additional levels will result in an error.
Step 2 - Create the Trait
Now that a folder exists, let's create some Traits within that folder.
Open the Bulk Management Tool .xlsm file in MS Excel.
Note, as the file opens, you may be given a security warning. Click the "Enable Macros" button to enable the use of macros.
Supply the authentication details needed on the "Config" tab as described in [Link to BAAAM v2 article]
Once authentication is verified, click on the "Headers" sheet tab.
Copy the row under "Create a Trait"
Switch to the "Create" sheet and paste the row as the new first row in the sheet. We will also insert a new column (after "name"); give it the header value "description".
Next we fill in a row for every Trait we wish to create. Here are some suggestions on how to fill in the 6 columns for a Trait.
- name - This should describe the audience and include the data provider's brand in most cases.
- description - Provides some additional information about the audience if needed.
- dataSourceId - This is the numeric ID of the Data Source to which this Trait belongs. The Data Source and the top level Trait folder (child of the "3rd-Party Data" folder) should correspond.
- folderId - The numeric ID of the Trait folder the Trait should belong to.
- ttl - the number of days that the Trait will be associated to a user. Value should be between 1 and 30.
- traitRule - This is the "Trait Expression" in the UI. This expression is how AAM will recognize which users will qualify for this Trait (belong to this audience) when the data files are processed. In most cases an "ic ==" rule should be used as shown below. In this example, "4567" and "4568" will be used within the Inbound data files to link users to this Trait.
- traitType - For Onboarded Traits this should always have the value "ON_BOARDED_TRAIT"
To create two Traits, we fill in two rows of the "Create" sheet.
Click the "BAAAM V2" tab to see all of the AAM related API operations. Under the "Traits" menu click "Create Traits".
You'll need to confirm and acknowledge a few pop up windows.
If your new Traits were successfully created, you'll see a success message appear for each row. This will be in a new "REQUEST_STATUS" column to the right of your Trait information. If there was an error you'll see that message in the new "ERROR_MESSAGE" column.
Important: if you are creating several hundred Traits at one time you will likely see a "busy" icon for several minutes. Be patient, your API calls are likely running just fine!
Assuming everything has run successfully, you will now also see the new Traits appear within the AAM UI.
Congratulations! You have now created your first Onboarded Traits using the Bulk Management Tool.