--- schema_version: "1" id: a341ffe084655cd80beef26827ad40c21cca65aa206a948960366820131d2d41 title: Data Mapping Best Practices collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/data/264-0-0/c360_a_data_mapping_best_practices.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_mapping_best_practices.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: 7efb5635b214280764076cc77057b87db1f9e5e068b013116a36fd03725302a1 description: Proper data mapping in Data 360 is a key component for success. Follow some best practices for data mapping to ensure your data can be used throughout Data 360 for segmentation, insights, and identity resolution. products: - Data 360 release: "264" --- # Data Mapping Best Practices Proper data mapping in Data 360 is a key component for success. Follow some best practices for data mapping to ensure your data can be used throughout Data 360 for segmentation, insights, and identity resolution. ## Planning Considerations Plan ahead before you begin mapping your data to DMOs in Data 360. - Create a report, an offline data dictionary, or source system inventory. - Identify field-level data and analyze its accuracy. - Review available standard data model objects (DMOs) and associated fields that your data can map to. - If gaps are identified, extend standard objects by adding custom fields or create a new custom DMOs on the Data Model tab. See instructions on [creating custom data model objects](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_create_custom_data_model_object.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "If a standard data model object doesn’t meet a business need, you can create a custom data model object (DMO) to store information that is unique to your business. You can create a custom data model object from an existing DMO, from a file, or from scratch."). - Consider how each data source and corresponding fields relates to the object you want to unify, such as the Individual or Account objects. - For example, if you’re bringing in web engagement data, ensure that it’s mapped to the Individual DMO or an attribute that is mapped to the Individual DMO to better understand user consumption and behavior on your site. - Consider the downstream use cases of the mapping. For example, to create a segment on individuals who browsed the blue shirt, map engagement data to the Individual DMO. - Set the category, or type of data, when you set up the DLO or schema corresponding to the dataset that you’re importing. A DMO inherits its category from the first DLO mapped to it. You can create subsequent mappings between the following categories. - Profile DLOs can map to Profile DMOs or Other DMOs but not to Engagement DMOs. - Engagement DLOs can map only to Engagement DMOs. - Other DLOs can map to Profile DMOs or Other DMOs but not to Engagement DMOs. ## Mapping Person Account Fields Person accounts use fields from both the Account and Contact objects. Because person accounts represent people, map person account fields to the Individual DMO. - Map the Contact object to Individual DMO and use Contact Id as Individual Id. This mapping makes the Contact Id your Subscriber Key in Marketing Cloud Engagement during activation. It also limits post-processing SQL and reduces the risk of introducing a new subscriber keys. - Map the Contact object to the Account Contact DMO. - Map the Account object to the Account DMO. ## Transformation and Relationships Once your model is established, review if you need to adjust formula fields, create transforms, or review data relationships. - Establish how the source data must be transformed and mapped into the standard data model. Not all source systems provide normalized export options or normalize data to the same degree. For more information, see help topic on [normalized and denormalized data](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_normalized_and_denormalized_data.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Data originates from multiple sources and can be normalized or denormalized. The Data 360 standard data model is normalized, so incoming data must be normalized before it can be mapped to the data model. Because not all source systems provide normalized export options or normalize data, assess your field-level data to establish how to transform and map the source data to the standard data model."). - Visualize objects and relationships holistically with the graph view on the Data Model tab. In many cases, it’s better to inspect the relationships or lack of holistically for all mapped objects in the data model rather than through a single object. For more information see help topic on [viewing data model objects](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=data.c360_a_data_model_object_view.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "You can view your Data 360 data model objects in either list or graph view."). ## Troubleshooting - If you’re attempting to map a DLO but don’t see a specific target DMO in the object selector, check that the category of your DLO matches one of the categories of DMO it can map to. The UI shows a list of DMOs to choose from, filtered by compatible categories and omitting objects with incompatible categories. ![Example](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-data-data_cloud-264-0-0-production-enus/f3569962-3c9b-4f83-9d0c-b6a574e785da/images/icon_example.png) Example The Sales Order DMO is first mapped to a DLO called Order-Headers in the Engagement category. Because of this DLO, Sales Order gets assigned to the Engagement category. Subsequently, only Engagement category DLOs can be mapped to the Sales Order DMO.