To get access to computed attributes, you’ll need to have the appropriate permissions (View Computed attributes and Manage Computed attributes). For more information on the permissions required, please read the access control documentation. To learn how to apply these permissions, please read the managing permissions guide.
In Adobe Experience Platform, computed attributes are functions used to aggregate event-level data into profile-level attributes. These functions are automatically computed so that they can be used across segmentation, activation, and personalization.
This document provides a guide on how to create and update computed attributes using the Adobe Experience Platform UI.
This UI guide requires an understanding of the various Experience Platform services involved with managing Real-Time Customer Profiles. Before reading this guide, or working in the UI, please review the documentation for the following services:
In the Experience Platform UI, select Profiles in the left navigation, followed by Computed attributes to see a list of the computed attributes available for your organization. This includes information about the computed attribute’s name, description, last evaluation date, and last evaluation status.
To select which fields are visible, you can select to add or remove which fields you want to be displayed.
Field | Description |
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Name | The display name of the computed attribute. |
Description | The description for the computed attribute. |
Evaluation method | The evaluation method for the computed attribute. At this time, only batch is supported. |
Last evaluated | This timestamp represents the last successful evaluation run. Only events that ocurred before this timestamp are considered in the last successful evaluation. |
Last evaluation status | The status that states whether or not the computed attribute was successfully calculated in the last evaluation run. Possible values include Success or Failed. |
Refresh frequency | An indication on how frequently the computed attribute is expected to be refreshed. Possible values include hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly. |
Fast refresh | A value that shows whether or not fast refresh is enabled for this compute attribute. If fast refresh is enabled, this lets the computed attribute be refreshed on a daily basis, rather than on a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly basis. This value is only applicable for computed attributes with a lookback period greater than a weekly basis. |
Lifecycle status | The current status of the computed attribute. There are three possible statuses:
|
Created | A timestamp showing the date and time the computed attribute was created. |
Last modified | A timestamp showing the date and time the computed attribute was last modified. |
You can also filter the displayed computed attributes based on the lifecycle status. Select the icon.
You can now choose to filter the computed attributes by status (Draft, Published, and Inactive).
Additionally, you can select a computed attribute to see more detailed information about it. For more information on the computed attributes details page, please read the view a computed attribute’s details section.
To create a new computed attribute, select Create computed attribute to enter the new computed attribute workflow.
The Create computed attribute page appears. On this page, you can add the basic information for the computed attribute you want to create.
Field | Description |
---|---|
Display name | The name which the computed attribute will be known by. You should keep this display name unique for each computed attribute. As a best practice, this display name should contain identifiers related to the computed attribute. So, for example, “Sum of purchases for shoes in the last 7 days”. |
Field name | A name which is used to refer to the computed attribute in other downstream services. This name is automatically derived from the display name and is written in camelCase. |
Description | A description of the computed attribute you’re trying to create. |
After adding the computed attribute details, you can start defining your rules.
To create a rule, first select attributes from the Events section to filter down events that you want to aggregate on. Currently, only non-array type event attributes are supported.
After selecting the attribute to use in the computed attribute definition, you can choose what this value will be compared to.
Now, you can apply a function to the field from the conditional output. First, select the aggregation function type. Available options include Sum, Min, Max, Count, and Most Recent. More information about these functions can be found in the functions section of the computed attributes overview.
After choosing a function, you can choose the field to aggregate on. The eligible fields to choose are dependent on the function selected.
After applying the aggregation function, you’ll need to define the lookback period of the computed attribute. This lookback period specifies the length of time that you want to aggregate events on. This lookback duration can be specified in terms of hours, days, weeks, or months.
While applying the aggregation function, you can enable fast refresh if the lookback period is greater than one week.
Fast refresh allows you to keep your attributes up-to-date. Enabling this option lets you refresh your computed attributes on a daily basis, even for longer lookback periods, allowing you to rapidly react to user activities.
For more information on fast refresh, please read the fast refresh section of the computed attributes overview.
With these steps completed, you can now either choose to save this computed attribute as a draft or to immediately publish it.
To view the details of a computed attribute, select the computed attribute you want to see details about on the Browse page.
The content of the page differs, depending if the computed attribute is Published or in Draft.
When selecting a published computed attribute, the computed attributes detail page appears.
This page displays a summary of the computed attribute’s details, as well as a graph showing the value distribution as well as sample profiles that qualify for the computed attribute.
The value distribution reflects the distribution of attribute values for profiles at the time of the sampling job. The computed attribute value in the sample profile reflects the latest merged profile value for a few sample profiles.
When selecting a draft computed attribute, the Edit computed attributes page appears. This page, similarly to the Create computed attributes page, lets you edit your computed attribute’s basic information, as well as its definition, before letting you update the draft or publish it.
If you are using a computed attribute with the Most recent function in a segment definition, you must include both the value and the timestamp value in the computed attribute object.
For example, if you’re creating a segment definition that is looking for “All profiles that have a valid email address” where the email address field is populated by a computed attribute with the most recent function, you must include both the email address’ value exists and the email address’ timestamp exists.
After creating a computed attribute, you can use published computed attributes in other downstream services. Since computed attributes are profile attribute fields created on your profile union schema, you can look up computed attribute values for a Real-Time Customer Profile, use them in an audience, activate them to a destination, or use them for personalization in journeys in Adobe Journey Optimizer.
Computed attributes cannot be used in audience compositions.
To learn more about computed attributes, please read the computed attributes overview. For information on creating and configuring computed attributes using the API, please read the computed attributes developer guide.