CRM Data Stream Types

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. There are two data stream types for uploading CRM data. One type for uploading leads data called CRM Leads, and one for opportunities data called CRM. The CRM data stream type is equipped with slowly changing type 2 dimensions such as lead stage, lead status, and lead modified date.

The CRM leads data stream type ingests data from lead generation platforms such as Marketing Cloud Account Engagement (Pardot), Hubspot Marketing, and Intercom. It also ingests data from CRM platforms such as Salesforce, Sugar CRM, and CRM Creation.

CRM data stream types are unique since they’re the only data stream types that have Slowly Changing Type 2 Dimensions. They’re also the only data stream types that upload data at the workspace level, rather than the data stream level.

• Slowly Changing Dimensions Type 2
  With CRM data, opportunity or lead attributes are updated over time because an opportunity can go through different stages. The CRM leads data stream type uses the slowly changing dimensions type 2 method to enable a data display suitable for these changes in dimension values. After a dimension’s value changes, the new value appears from the modification date and onwards. The value isn’t updated retroactively.
• Lead Stage Dimension
  The Lead Stage, one of the attributes of the Lead Entity, is a type 2 dimension from the CRM leads data stream type. Over its life-span, it evolves and changes until it hopefully converts to an Opportunity.
• Storing CRM Data
  The CRM data is stored in the database in two separate tables.
• Lead Modified Data in the CRM Data Stream Type
  The Lead Modified Date is mandatory and serves as the only date-type field in the CRM data stream types. It allows you to put the data on a timeline or have it filtered by date.
• Lead Status
  The lead status value has direct implications on how the lead stage value is displayed over a selected date range.
• Differences Between Leads and Opportunity Data Stream Types
  The difference between Leads and Opportunity data stream types is seen by their Type 2 dimensions.
• Measurements in the CRM Data Stream Types
  There are two system-generated measurements, one for each CRM data stream type: Leads Count, and Opportunities Count. These measurements perform a distinct count at Lead Key and Opportunity Key level. For example, if you have a lead with three stages, the Leads Count measurement returns the result of one as opposed to three.
• The Connection Between the CRM Data Stream Types
  The CRM Leads and CRM Opportunities data stream types are connected by shared dimensions and attributes.
• Population of the Opportunity ID
  The opportunity ID is populated for each lead that’s populated in the source data.
• Visualizing CRM Data
  There are different ways that you can visualize CRM data. The visualization of a type 2 dimension, such as Lead Stage, filtered for a certain date range, returns the dimension’s updated value. This is according to its last Lead Modified Date value contained within the filtered date range.
• Row Count in CRM Data Stream Types
  When a slowly changing type 2 dimension changes its value over time, each value along with its Modified Date is stored on a separate row in the database, identified by a unique Detail ID.