---
schema_version: "1"
id: fcaed84d5a04d486488cce4114ec8caf952f45f05d89ec8069b28b7e4be6c2ff
title: Configure Context Definitions as Data Sources
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/ind/264-0-0/dpe_configure_ctx_datasources.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ind.dpe_configure_ctx_datasources.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 6c780bb4968777f18bc114e5743ccdd521f0a6f3a8f9e064646ab3b243c650b7
description: Read data from a context definition into Data Processing Engine definitions to transform and pass it for downstream processing.
products:
  - Cross Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Configure Context Definitions as Data Sources

Read data from a context definition into Data Processing Engine definitions to transform and pass it for downstream processing.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ind.dpe_editions.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Review the supported editions and availability for Data Processing Engine (DPE).">View supported editions</a>.</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small permission">
        <colgroup>
          <col style="width:50%">
          <col style="width:50%">
        </colgroup>
        <thead class="slds-text-title_caps ">
          <tr class="">
            <th scope="colgroup" class="slds-cell-wrap" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;vertical-align:top;" id="d4725e58">User Permissions Needed</th>
          </tr>
        </thead>
        <tbody>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d4725e58 ">Create and save definitions</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d4725e58 "><span>
                <a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ind.dpe_setup.htm&amp;release=264.0.0&amp;type=5" title="Assign users system permissions, object access, and permission sets that they require to manage, run, and monitor Data Processing Engine (DPE) definitions. User permissions for Data Processing Engine vary based on the runtime platform your company uses to run definitions.">View permissions information.</a>
              </span></td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d4725e58 ">To run definitions on-demand:</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d4725e58 ">Run Data Processing Engine Definitions On Demand</td>

          </tr>
          <tr class="">
            <td data-label="User Permissions Needed" class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d4725e58 ">To configure a context definition as a data source</td>

            <td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;" headers="d4725e58 ">Context Service Admin</td>

          </tr>
        </tbody>
      </table>

Considerations

- When you launch DPE builder from Context Service, the Data Source and Data Source Subtype nodes are preconfigured automatically based on the selected context definition.
- DPE prepopulates aliases from their corresponding field names and doesn’t support double underscores in aliases. If your context definition field names include double underscores, DPE automatically converts them to single underscores in the alias field.

Prerequisite

Context definition and mapping must exist and be active.

Steps to configure a context definition as a data source:

1. In the DPE builder, click **New Node**, provide the node details, and select node type as **Data Source**.
2. In Configuration, set Source Type as **Context**.
3. For Source Object, select the context definition.
4. Provide a context instance identifier, or use an [input variable](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ind.dpe_define_input_variables.htm&language=en_US) to provide the identifier during runtime.
    
    ![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ind-data_processing_engine-264-0-0-production-enus/80e06924-e6c0-4b82-81cf-e99ccd77d857/images/icon_note.png)
    
    Note The input variable must be of the type **Context Instance Identifier**.
    
    ![Configure context as data source](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ind-data_processing_engine-264-0-0-production-enus/80e06924-e6c0-4b82-81cf-e99ccd77d857/data_processing_engine/images/dpe_context_data_source.png)
5. Save the node configuration.
6. Create a Data Source Subtype node for each node in the context definition.
    
    1. Click **New Node**.
    2. Provide the node details and select the node type as **Data Source Subtype**.
    3. In Configuration, for Source Node, select the context data source.
    4. For Subtype, select the context node.
    5. Click **Select Fields** and choose required fields. Aliases auto-populate and are used by downstream nodes.
    
    ![Configure context nodes as data source subtypes](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-ind-data_processing_engine-264-0-0-production-enus/80e06924-e6c0-4b82-81cf-e99ccd77d857/data_processing_engine/images/dpe_configure_context_datasource_subtype.png)
7. Save your node configuration.

Perform the needed transformations on the subtype nodes except for forecasting and statistical functions, such as variance and standard deviations. See [Add Transformation Nodes to Your Definition](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=ind.dpe_create_transformation_nodes.htm&type=5&language=en_US) for more details.