Tables

The primary purpose of your Cheetah Digital by Zeta database is to store all of the data that you need to effectively plan and execute your marketing campaign strategy. Your database is composed of one or more tables, each of which is arranged into rows (i.e., "records") and columns (i.e., "fields"), similar to a spreadsheet. However, unlike a spreadsheet, the platform's tables are highly optimized for writing and reading large amounts of data.

Every Cheetah Digital by Zeta client database starts with a "Recipient" table that contains contact information about your customers. That table consists of more than thirty commonly-used fields such as "Email Address," First Name," "Last Name," "Home Address," Business Address," and so forth. The Recipient table (like all tables in Cheetah Digital by Zeta) is completely customizable -- fields can be added as needed to support your marketing needs. Depending on the complexity of your data, your system may require additional tables other than the default Recipient table; creating additional tables can make managing the platform easier.

The Tables screen is used to manage the tables that make up your marketing database. This screen allows you create new tables and fields, and to manage your existing tables.

Note: If you need to build a table to support custom responses, please see the Custom Responses topic.

Access

The Tables screen is accessible by the following method:

  • From the Main menu, select Data > Management > Tables

Additional Topics

For more information on Tables, please see:

 Load and Send Tables

 Working with Fields

 Working with Joins

Create a New Table

To create a new table:

  1. Above the list of existing tables, click the + New button. The Workspace is refreshed to show a blank Tables screen.

  2. In the Display Name field, enter a name for this new table. The Table Name field is automatically populated based on what you enter in the Display Name field. The Display Name value is automatically converted to all lower-case, and spaces are replaced with underscores.

  3. Optionally, enter a different table name in the Table Name field. Only alphanumeric characters and underscores are valid entries in the Table Name (no spaces or symbols).

  4. Click save. The system saves the new table and displays the Table details screen. See Working with Fields or Working with Joins more information on how to define the fields and joins in your new table.

View or Edit a Table

To view or edit an existing table:

  1. When the screen is displayed, a list of all the current tables is displayed in the left-hand side of the Workspace. Optionally, you can filter this list by typing in all or part of a table name in the Search by Name field.

  2. Click on the table that you want to view. The Workspace is refreshed to show the details of the selected table.

  3. Optionally, to view detailed information about the table, click the Table tab in the Tool Ribbon. The Item Details screen is displayed, showing who created the item, who modified it last, and what the last actions taken on the item were. This screen also displays the Table Name which is used by many of the platform's API endpoints. On this screen, click Related Items in the Function Menu to see other items in the system that reference or utilize this table. When finished, click the Edit tab in the Tool Ribbon to return to the main edit screen.

  4. Optionally, to rename the table, click Edit > Rename in the Tool Ribbon. A "Rename Item" dialog box is displayed. Enter a new name for the table, then click save new name.

  5. Make any necessary changes to the Fields in this table (see Working with Fields for more details).

  6. Make any necessary changes to the Joins in this table (see Working with Joins for more details).

  7. To save your changes, click Edit > Save in the Tool Ribbon.

Set Record Lookup Fields

The Record Lookup feature is a database query tool that lets you build simple queries for looking up records in your marketing database. From the Table detail screen, you can define what fields will be displayed on the Record Lookup screen, and in what sequence, when you query this particular table.

To set the Record Lookup fields:

  1. On the Table details screen, click Edit > Actions > Set Record Lookup Fields in the Tool Ribbon. The Set Record Lookup Fields pop-up window is displayed.

  2. Identify the fields that you want displayed on the Record Lookup screen when a user queries this table:

    • To add a field, select it in the Available Fields list box, then click the green add button (optionally, you can Shift + Click or Control + Click to select multiple fields). The field is moved into the Selected Fields list box.

    • To remove a field, click the remove button (X icon) next to the field name within the Selected Fields list box. The field is moved into the Available Fields list box.

  3. Optionally, to modify the sequence in which the fields are displayed, drag-and-drop the fields within the Selected Fields list box into the desired sequence.

  4. Click save field order.

Grant Access to Child Systems

If your Missing variable reference account has been set up with a Parent / Child relationship, the Tables screen allows you to manage specifically which fields are shared from the Parent down to a Child system. When you share data with a Child system, you make that data viewable and usable to that Child. Please note that while a Parent system will have access to all the data in the Child systems, the "sibling" systems can't interact or share data and information with each other unless permission has been established at the Parent level. For more information on Parent / Child systems, please see Multi-Division Client Accounts.

Note: This feature is not available for Load and Send Tables.

Once you grant access to a field to a Child system, you can't remove access to that field. You can optionally allow access to more fields from this table; see "View or Edit Access to Child Systems" below for more details.

To share fields between a Parent and a Child system:

  1. On the Table details screen, click Edit > Actions > Add to Child Systems in the Tool Ribbon.

  2. From the Child System drop-down menu, select the Child system to which you want to share data.

  3. The screen displays a list of all the Active and Inactive fields on the currently selected table. Place check marks next to all the fields that you want to share with the selected Child system.

  4. Click save.

View or Edit Access to Child Systems

If your Cheetah Digital by Zeta account has been set up with a Parent / Child relationship, the Tables screen allows you to manage specifically which fields are shared from the Parent down to a Child system. When you share data with a Child system, you make that data viewable and usable to that Child. For more information on Parent / Child systems, please seeMulti-Division Client Accounts.

Once you grant access to a field to a Child system, you can't remove access to that field.  

Note: This feature is not available for Load and Send Tables.

To view or edit the data access privileges that have been granted to a Child system:

  1. On the Table details screen, click Child Systems in the Functional Menu. The Workspace is refreshed to show a list of all the Child systems that have been granted access to fields on this table.

  2. Click on a Child system. The Workspace is refreshed to show a list of all the fields on the selected table. Fields that have previously been granted access to the selected Child system will be checked (and can't be unchecked).

  3. Optionally, place check marks next to any additional fields that you want to share with the selected Child system. Click save.

Enable / Disable Sending Event Data to EDP

For clients who use Missing variable reference in conjunction with Missing variable reference's Engagement Data Platform (EDP), you can decide whether or not to send Event data (such as sends, opens, clicks, unsubscribes and so forth) from Missing variable reference to EDP for Campaigns that use this table as the data source. This process of sending Event data from Missing variable reference to EDP is referred to as Real-Time Export, or RTX.

Note: RTX is an optional feature that must be enabled in your account. Please speak to your support representative for additional details. 

At a table level, you can disable RTX if it's not needed. As an example, some clients send transactional Campaigns (like password resets or shipping notifications) from a separate sending table. The Event data generated by these Campaigns likely has little marketing value, so for this table, you could disable the RTX process. 

To disable Real-Time Export for a table: 

  1. On the Table details screen, click Edit > Actions> Disable Selective RTX in the Tool Ribbon.

  2. A confirmation dialog box is displayed; click ok.

To enable Real-Time Export for a table:

  1. On the Table details screen, click Edit >Actions > Enable Selective RTX in the Tool Ribbon.

  2. A confirmation dialog box is displayed; click ok.