---
schema_version: "1"
id: ac2865422504724f46259b0e1e828de3ce8ef91a827ad8d4497b2f885dd1df27
title: Connect Your Data to Marketing Intelligence with Data Pipelines
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/mktg/264-0-0/mc_mi_concept_pipeline.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_concept_pipeline.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: e241360dcbbac50595ddf0c00032a11dcd719dcf1c181ed10ef11e50aadab08d
description: Data pipelines automate the collection, transformation, and organization of marketing data to prepare it for analysis in Marketing Intelligence in Marketing Cloud Next. By using a predefined API connector or TotalConnect, pipelines structure data with entities like data streams and transforms. This process ensures accuracy, consistency, and alignment with the Marketing Intelligence data model, delivering faster insights and more reliable campaign optimization.
products:
  - Marketing
  - Marketing Cloud Intelligence
  - Marketing Cloud Next
release: "264"
---
# Connect Your Data to Marketing Intelligence with Data Pipelines

Data pipelines automate the collection, transformation, and organization of marketing data to prepare it for analysis in Marketing Intelligence in Marketing Cloud Next. By using a predefined API connector or TotalConnect, pipelines structure data with entities like data streams and transforms. This process ensures accuracy, consistency, and alignment with the Marketing Intelligence data model, delivering faster insights and more reliable campaign optimization.

**API connectors** provide predefined mappings for common marketing channels and allow more custom mappings, so users can extend the integration for unique business needs.

**TotalConnect** is a flexible way to bring custom marketing data into Marketing Intelligence when a predefined API connector doesn’t meet your needs. It helps you create data pipelines from sources such as uploaded files or Data Lake Objects (DLOs). A DLO is a managed data source in Data Cloud, such as an enterprise data warehouse or a synced connector, that enables automatic data ingestion without manual uploads. Using DLOs broadens connectivity to enterprise sources and supports a zero-copy architecture, keeping a single source of truth while reducing Extract, Transform, Load (ETL) complexity.

- **[Understand Named Credentials, Connections, and Pipelines](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_namedcreds.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    When you create a data pipeline in Marketing Intelligence, three components work together to ingest data: Named Credential, Connection, and a Pipeline. This architecture separates authentication, connectivity, and data processing so you can reuse credentials and configure pipelines efficiently.
- **[Connection Management in Marketing Intelligence](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_connection_management.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Monitor and manage your Marketing Intelligence data source connections from a single, centralized location.
- **[Create a Data Pipeline With Custom Data in TotalConnect](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_totalconnect.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Use TotalConnect to upload data from files or pull data directly from a Data Lake Object (DLO) into Marketing Intelligence, enabling flexible integration of custom datasets without an API connector.
- **[Map Data in Marketing Intelligence](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_mapping_in_mi.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Map source data to the Marketing Intelligence data model to prepare it for analysis and reporting. Review automatically suggested mappings, transform source values with mapping formulas, and resolve validation errors before deploying your data pipeline.
- **[Monitor Data Pipeline Health](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_pipeline_metadata_logs.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Identify pipelines that need attention, investigate failed runs, and determine whether to reprocess or retransform data.
- **[Review Pipeline Data with Pivot Tables in Marketing Intelligence](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_pivot_table.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Verify mapped pipeline data in Salesforce Report Builder. Compare measurements, group results by dimension, apply filters, add a chart, and export the report.
- **[Third-Party API Connectors for Marketing Intelligence](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=mktg.mc_mi_api_list.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5)**  
    Marketing Intelligence provides third-party API connectors that help you bring data from ad networks, analytics tools, and social media platforms into a unified view. By connecting these sources, you can analyze performance across channels and see how fields are mapped.