This page includes resources related to a presentation I gave at TrailblazerDX (TDX) 2025.

Session Title

Design Data Model Objects for Analytics, Activation and AI

Session Description

Explore using industry-specific data standards to design data model objects in Data Cloud that can consolidate fragmented and multi-format data sources into a single view of the customer.

Design of the data model objects is a critical first step in setting up Data Cloud and will impact aspects of the implementation, including the data harmonization and mappings, as well as downstream automations and AI processing. This session will provide concrete examples of data standards in the education space and how to design a Data Cloud data model that will hold up over the long-term as new source systems and activation targets are added to the landscape. This will help architects and business analysts accelerate adoption of Data Cloud.

Slides

(Coming soon!)

Resources

General Resources

Lakehouse Architecture

• Databricks Glossary: History of Data Architectures https://www.databricks.com/glossary/data-lakehouse
• Databricks Blog: What is a Lakehouse https://www.databricks.com/blog/2020/01/30/what-is-a-data-lakehouse.html
• Salesforce Engineering Blog: Data Cloud Tech Stack https://medium.com/salesforce-architects/5-things-architects-should-know-about-data-cloud-90c8052809e5

Data Cloud Resources

Storage & Catalog

• Data Spaces https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_spaces.htm&type=5
• Data Objects in Data Cloud https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_lake_objects.htm&type=5
• Standard Data Model Objects https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_c360datamodel.htm&type=5
• Data Mapping https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_mapping.htm&type=5
• Data Access https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_setup_permission_sets.htm&type=5

Process and Query

• Identity Resolution https://salesforce.vidyard.com/watch/f4BPXYprd5Wd1fRrsdEVAh
• Calculated Insights https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_calculated_insights.htm&type=5 & examples https://github.com/salesforce-marketingcloud/cdp-calculated-insights
• Streaming Insights https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_streaming_insights.htm&type=5
• Data Actions https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_actions_CDP.htm&type=5
• Data Actions (Webhook)) https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.c360a_api.meta/c360a_api/c360a_api_webhook_data_action_targets_in_customer_data_platform.htm

Marketing Segmentation & Activation

• Segmentation https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_create_segments.htm&type=5
• Activation https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_activation.htm&type=5
• Data Actions to Marketing Cloud Journeys https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_marketing_cloud_data_action_targets.htm&type=5

Analytics & Data Sharing

• Tableau Connector https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_dc_for_tableau.htm&type=5
• CRM Analytics Connector https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.gain_insights_on_data_with_crm_analytics.htm&type=5
• JDBC Driver https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_jdbc_in_salesforce_cdp.htm&type=5
• CDP Python Connector https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.c360a_api.meta/c360a_api/c360a_api_python_connector.htm
• Data Cloud APIs – Postman Data Cloud API collection https://www.postman.com/salesforce-developers/salesforce-developers/collection/vkln4gx/salesforce-data-cloud-apis ; API docs https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/data/connectapi/references/spec?meta=Summary
• Apex ConnectAPI (see classes prefixed with “Cdp” https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.apexref.meta/apexref/apex_classes_connect_api.htm
• Data Shares https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_shares.htm&type=5

CRM Enrichment

• Copied Fields (via Data Graph) https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_create_a_copy_field_enrichment.htm&type=5
• Standard UI Components https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_create_a_related_list_enrichment.htm&type=5
• Custom UI Components (via Apex ConnectAPI) https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/platform/lwc/guide/apex.html
• Data Cloud Data in Flows https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=release-notes.rn_automate_flow_builder_access_data_cloud_objects_from_get_records_element.htm&release=244&type=5
• Data Actions to Platform Events https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_actions.htm&type=5

Agents & Generative AI

• Einstein for Generative AI https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.generative_ai_enable.htm&type=5
• AI Agents & Agent Actions https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.copilot_intro.htm&type=5
• Prompt Builder https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ai.prompt_builder_intro.htm&type=5

Standard Data Model Objects

• Salesforce Architect Site: Data Cloud Diagrams https://architect.salesforce.com/diagrams/data-models/data-cloud/data-cloud-overview
• Salesforce Help Site: Customer 360 Data Model https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_c360datamodel.htm&type=5
• Developers Data Cloud Reference Guide: Standard Data Model Objects https://developer.salesforce.com/docs/atlas.en-us.c360a_api.meta/c360a_api/c360dm_DataModelObjects.htm

Custom Data Model Objects

• Trailhead: Packaging and Data Kits https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/modules/packaging-and-data-kits-in-salesforce-cdp
• Salesforce Help: Packing in Data Cloud https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_packaging_in_customer_360_audiences.htm&type=5
• Salesforce Help: Data Kits https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_package_kits.htm&type=5
• AppExchange collection for Data Cloud https://appexchange.salesforce.com/mktcollections/cloud-collections/customerdataplatform

Data Cloud Training

• Trailhead: Data Cloud Trailmix https://trailhead.salesforce.com/users/dataclouddocs/trailmixes/data-cloud-learning-path-a
• Trailhead: Explore Data Cloud Trail https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/trails/explore-customer-360-audiences
• Trailhead: Prepare Your Data for AI Trail https://trailhead.salesforce.com/content/learn/trails/prepare-your-data-for-ai
• Salesforce Help: Data Cloud Resources https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_dc_resources.htm&type=5

Education Industry Resources

Education-to-employment data standards

• Common Education Data Standards:
  • Mapping Toolkit https://ceds.ed.gov/MappingToolkit.aspx
  • Data Warehosue creation in SQL and Parquet and CEDS Ontology on GitHub https://github.com/CEDStandards
• Learner Information Framework https://www.learnerinfoframework.org/