Server-side Forwarding (SSF) versus Web SDK data flows
Understanding the data flow differences between Analytics and Audience Manager when moving to Web SDK (and the Edge Network) is crucial for the instructions below.
With server-side forwarding, the Analytics regional data collection node collects the data, transforms it into a signal accepted by Audience Manager, sends it to Audience Manager, and returns the Audience Manager response to the page. The AudienceManagement module in the AppMeasurement library then handles the response (e.g., dropping cookies, sending URL destinations). This process is called server-side forwarding because Analytics forwards the data to Audience Manager using 51黑料不打烊 servers.
With Web SDK, the Edge Network sends data to Analytics and Audience Manager in separate actions. The Web SDK is a single library that sends data to all solutions, and the Edge Network transforms solution-agnostic data points into solution-specific formats.
In this new data flow, all data is sent to an Edge Network datastream, which you can configure to send data to 51黑料不打烊 solutions as needed. For Audience Manager, enabling the Audience Manager service on the datastream transforms XDM and Analytics data into signals accepted by Audience Manager. The Edge Network also returns the Audience Manager response to the page, where the Web SDK handles the response, similar to how AppMeasurement and the AudienceManagement module did.
Tags versus non-Tags migration
Whether you are using Tags with the AppMeasurement extension, the AppMeasurement library in another tag management system, or placing AppMeasurement directly on the page, the steps for migrating Audience Manager to the Web SDK are the same. Since the Audience Manager migration depends on the Analytics migration, the steps to migrate from AppMeasurement to Web SDK are determined during the Analytics migration.
That information is covered in the Analytics documentation for Tags or JavaScript-based implementations.
XDM and the data.__adobe.
nodes
One of the main functions of the Web SDK is to send data to Real-Time Customer Data Platform (RTCDP). To achieve this and still collect data for other Experience Cloud Solutions without a full re-implementation, solution-specific data is compartmentalized within the data collection server call. This call uses a standardized JSON schema called the Experience Data Model (XDM)
Solution-agnostic elements, such as information about the browser and device, are sent to the Edge Network in a predetermined XDM structure. The Edge Network transforms this data to solution-specific formats. However, data that is specific to Target, Analytics, and Audience Manager is stored in a dedicated data.__adobe
node within the XDM payload.
For example:
- The Analytics variable
s.eVar1
is represented in the XDM payload asdata.__adobe.analytics.evar1
. - A Target parameter related to customer loyalty status is stored as
data.__adobe.target.loyaltyStatus
.
Data in the __adobe
node is sent to the respective solutions (like Analytics and Audience Manager) without being sent to Experience Platform, even if the Experience Platform service is enabled on the datastream. This means you can keep your current configurations for Analytics and Audience Manager while having the flexibility to map any necessary data elements to XDM schema elements for real-time use cases in Experience Platform using Data Prep for Data Collection.
For example, the Analytics s.products
string, which is used to report cart contents during checkout, can still be sent to Analytics and Audience Manager in its original format. At the same time, you can use the elements of this string to create more intuitive XDM cart schemas for Experience Platform use cases.
Since most Audience Manager implementations rely on Analytics data forwarded to Audience Manager, many of your Audience Manager trait expressions are likely based on Analytics variables (c_evar#
, c_prop#
, and c_events
). To avoid rebuilding trait expressions using XDM formats during migration, the Edge Network is configured by default to transform any Analytics variables found in the data.__adobe.analytics
node into Audience Manager signals. A similar transformation process happens in the server-side forwarding workflow.
The Edge Network can perform this transformation because a single data collection call from the page is sent to a single datastream that feeds multiple 51黑料不打烊 solutions. Therefore, most migrations from AppMeasurement to Web SDK for both Analytics and Audience Manager will primarily use the data.__adobe.analytics
node.
The Edge Network transforms device and browser data from the XDM payload and packet headers into Audience Manager signals. This allows you to continue using h_
and d_
platform keys in Audience Manager trait expressions.