*NEW* Managing databases in the MarketingSuite
Recently we added a new, important section to the MarketingSuite. Found behind the link 'Databases' in the side menu, this new section enables users to manage and structure their data as well as providing insight into the data and segments that form the basis of their campaigns.
The DatabaseApp will be the successor of the Profiles section of the Publisher software. For us, there's still a lot of work to do, but there's also enough to discover for users already .
Much like the current Profiles section in Publisher, when opening the new databaseApp, a list with available databases and their selections is shown on the left side. It is important to know that users of the MarketingSuite are allowed to have as much databases as they want and shape and configure them entirely to their own needs.
When opening a database inside the DatabaseApp, information about the database and options for the database will become available. Users can lookup the information about the mailings sent to databases and selections, find information about profiles (a profile is one record in a database) and see database and selection key figures.
Database structure tool
Each database has its own field structure and it is entirely up to the user to shape it to their own specific needs. To view and/or set up the database field structure, we've created a new tool. During the process of designing and building this new tool, we've sought to maximize the user work flow and to visually represent the structure in the best possible way.
Database collections
As in the Publisher environment, the MarketingSuite allows users to add infinite extra layers to their data by creating collections. This is useful when campaigns demand more advanced data structures. You can best see a collection as an additional database directly linked to each profile in a database. Collections are often used to store information about orders and purchased products at each customer profile. But there are numerous applications to think off where collections can improve the data structure.
Collections are added to a database via the same field structure tool. Each collection has a field structure on its own. Data inside these collections are of course available for campaign personalization. Users can add as many collections to their databases as needed.
The shape of things to come
The Database management section is still work in progress. For the next couple of months, a team of Copernicans will be focusing on building a brand new selections builder tool which will be a part of it. Selections are active filters on the data in a database, and used to create segments, to filter out email destinations that bounced, to select profiles that were created in a specific period of time, or any other data selection and combination that you can think of.
Again, we will be striving for a maximization of the user work flow. Creating selections in the current Publisher environment can be a tedious and complicated thing to do because of the many configuration options and poorly designed (outdated) interface. We are now rethinking the whole process to make the new selections tool both easy to use for most users and highly configurable for advanced users.
We will hope to present the selections build tool by the end of September. It's a lot of work, so bear with us.
Ow, and more good news. The next couple of months we will be prototyping and start with building the campaign management tool (for automated campaigns) as well as a personalization helper tool, which will simplify creating email personalization.
That's it for now. If you have questions or suggestions, don't hesitate to get in touch with us.
Cheers.
Walter Greefkes and Copernica
