Transactional data

Load transactional data directly into your Apteco CDP alongside individual and contact point data, creating hierarchical relationships and updating records incrementally.

How transactional tables relate to individuals

Transactional tables connect to the Individual table in one-to-many relationships. Each individual can have multiple transaction records, and you can create parent-child relationships between transactional tables.

Tip

Create multiple sibling transaction tables as well as parent-child structures. The sibling approach works well when you have different transaction types in a single file.

Example use cases

E-commerce order history

Load customer data with order and product information from repeated rows per customer and order.

Data source includes:

Customer details
Order information (order ID, date, status, payment method)
Order items (product, quantity, unit price, total price)

Transactional tables:

Order (parent: Individual)
Order Item (parent: Order)

Banking transaction history

Load customer account data with transaction records and categories.

Data source includes:

Customer details
Transaction information (transaction ID, date, amount, type)
Transaction categories (category ID, description, merchant)

Transactional tables:

Transaction (parent: Individual)
Transaction Category (parent: Transaction)

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure that:

You've imported your data source into Orbit
Your source data includes a unique identifier for each transaction type
You understand the hierarchical relationships between your transaction types

Note

Duplicate row counts are expected when loading transactional data, as multiple transaction records per individual create repeated rows in the source.

Orbit nets out duplicate rows during the import and ID resolution processing.

Creating a transactional mapping

You create transactional mappings as part of your data mapping process to a Customer Data Table.

To create a transactional mapping:

Go to Data Mappings and select + New Data Mapping.
Under Customer Data Table select Create.
Enter a Name and select Create.
Select your Data Source from the drop-down list.
Select your Source Group from the drop-down list.
Turn on Transactional Mapping.
Select an existing Transaction Table or select + New Transaction Table.
Enter a descriptive Transaction Table Name.
Select a Parent Transaction Table for hierarchical relationships (leave as default for top-level tables).

Note

You can't edit the parent table setting after creation. Select the correct parent before creating the table.
Choose how to name the table in your system:
- Leave Use Transaction Table Identifier selected to add Transaction to the name, for example Transaction (Donations). This makes transaction tables easy to tell apart from the standard Apteco CDP tables.
- Clear Use Transaction Table Identifier to use only the name you entered, for example Donations.
Orbit uses the same name for the table's folder in your system. See Folder structure. You can't change this setting after you create the table.

Caution

Orbit checks the name against your other transaction tables, but not against User Defined Tables or Apteco CDP tables. If you clear Use Transaction Table Identifier, use a name that none of those tables in your system already has.
Select Add.
Repeat for any additional transactional tables.
Use the Transaction Table drop-down list to control which transactional tables appear as mapping options.

Changing an existing transaction table

You can't change the Use Transaction Table Identifier setting for a transaction table after you've created it. Changing the table's name could break dashboards, audiences, and other resources that use it.

Mapping columns to transactional tables

After creating your transactional tables, map your source columns to them.

To map columns to a transactional table:

Expand the unmapped column you want to assign.
Select Map Column.
Expand the transactional table you want to map to (identified by the arrows icon).
Map to either:
- Standard transactional columns
- Custom Attributes
Note

Custom transactional attributes support the same data types as individual attributes. See Attributes.

Example use case

Custom transactional attributes could include order status, payment method, product names, and quantities.

Tip

Use selector types for fields with limited distinct values (such as payment methods or order statuses) to enable efficient filtering and analysis.
Apply your ID Resolution Rules.
Select Save, then Import.

Note

You must map either Transaction Date or Transaction Source URN for the load to proceed. At least one of these columns is required.

Standard transactional columns

Each transactional table includes standard columns you can map to:

Column	Description	Required
Transaction Source URN	A unique identifier for the transaction	At least one required column must be mapped
Transaction Date	The date the transaction occurred	At least one required column must be mapped
Source create date	The date the data source was created	Optional
Source update date	The date the data source was last updated	Optional

Building and deploying transactional tables

After importing your transactional data, you add the transactional tables to your system build.

To add transactional tables to your system:

Go to System Builds.
Expand the option menu on your system and select Edit.
Select the + where you want to add your table in the hierarchy.
If the + was above another table, then decide whether to add your transactional table above or next to that table.
Select your transactional table from the list.

Note

Orbit understands the table relationships and adds any child tables automatically.
Select Save.
Select Build and deploy when complete.

The transactional tables appear in your system with their defined relationships to individuals and parent transactional tables.