Is This Data Foundation Solution Kit Right for My Organization?

You can establish a data foundation in Marketing Cloud Engagement in multiple ways. Each customer implementation is unique and has different factors to consider. Use this grid to help guide your decision on which data foundation pattern makes sense for your organization. Your needs might require a hybrid approach and a combination of aspects from multiple patterns.

This solution kit describes only how to use Data 360 as the primary data foundation within Marketing Cloud Engagement.

Considerations
	Data 360 Marketing Cloud Engagement Data Foundation		Other Marketing Cloud Engagement Data Foundations
Implementation Strategy Overview	Use Data 360 to activate core audiences to Marketing Cloud Engagement, and then connect the resulting data extensions to the Engagement Contact Model. Core data extensions contain commonly used attributes that can be used for content personalization and decisioning across many different Journey Builder use cases.		To activate core audiences to Marketing Cloud Engagement, use Synchronized Data Sources, your own external systems, or third-party tools. Then connect the resulting data extensions to the Engagement Contact Model. Core data extensions contain commonly used attributes that can be used for content personalization and decisioning across many different Journey Builder use cases.
Implementation Pattern Overview	Core Audience Model Use Data 360 to activate two core data extensions containing your full audience and all required attributes. One data extension is for Individuals, and the other is for Unified Individuals. Then connect these core data extensions to the Engagement Contact Model.	Collective Core Audience Model Use Data 360 to activate multiple core data extensions containing your full audience and all required attributes. Create multiple data extensions for Individuals, and one or more for Unified Individuals. Then connect the multiple core data extensions to the Engagement Contact Model.	Synchronized Data Sources Use Marketing Cloud Connect to establish a data foundation by syncing CRM contact and attribute data directly from Salesforce CRM and into the Engagement Contact Model. Then separately use CRM data in Data 360 for detailed insights, segmentation, and retargeting.	External Systems Use your own external systems or third-party tools to establish a data foundation by building core data extensions and connecting them to the Engagement Contact Model. Then separately use data in Data 360 for detailed insights, segmentation, and retargeting.
Customer Traits and Considerations	Your organization: Wants to remove or minimize existing processes for importing data directly to Marketing Cloud Engagement Is confidently able to import and harmonize required data within Data 360 Understands that the data foundation refreshes from Data 360 to Marketing Cloud Engagement occur every 12+ hours Has organizational experience with customer data platforms Doesn’t have or fully use Marketing Cloud Connect to sync CRM contacts into Marketing Cloud Engagement		Your organization: Uses Salesforce Sales, Service, or Industries Cloud products Uses the Synchronized Data Sources feature Creates Engagement contacts as Salesforce CRM contacts Has an intentional CRM contacts strategy for anonymous messaging, such as anonymous mobile app users, SMS subscribers who sign up by texting JOIN, or email subscribers who register with only an email address Wants to supplement but not replace this pattern with some attributes from Data 360, such as Calculated Insights	Your organization; Is in the early onboarding or implementation stages with Data 360 Has little expertise with Data 360 Has already successfully established a Marketing Cloud Engagement data foundation using an external source Is able to keep managing the external imports to Marketing Cloud Engagement in near-term Has imported core data extensions with foreign keys to join Wants only to supplement this pattern with some attributes from Data 360, such as Calculated Insights Has near real-time latency needs for refreshing data in the Marketing Cloud Engagement data foundation Has internal strategies that require consent and preference data to be directly imported into Marketing Cloud Engagement instead of or in addition to Data 360