IBM Amplify 2016 - Session 1651 - How standard IBM Campaign functions and utilities can improve usability and adoption.

#ibmamplify
#1651 - How Standard IBM Campaign Functions
and Utilities Can Improve Usability and Adoption
Ben North, Head of Tactical Services, Purple Square Consulting
IBM Amplify 2016 Conference

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Solution adoption is key
• IBM Campaign is a very feature rich solution, that
takes time and hard-earned experience to master.
• Some out-of-box capabilities are often not fully
understood or even known about by those
responsible for building campaigns or
administering the environment.
• As a result, many organisations are missing out
on some easy opportunities to improve usability
and adoption of the solution.
© 2016 Purple Square Consulting Ltd

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Users and Superusers
Standard functionality you can implement yourselves straight away

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Profiling and pre-computed fields
• Profiling enables users to see
and select table field values
when building an expression
in a campaign flowchart.
• Multiple configuration options
are available, each with pros
and cons.
• Out-of-box defaults may not
always suit and can result in
user frustration and degraded
performance.
© 2016 Purple Square Consulting Ltd 4

#ibmamplify
Profiling and pre-computed fields
• Profiling enables users to see
and select table field values
when building an expression
in a campaign flowchart.
• Multiple configuration options
are available, each with pros
and cons.
• Out-of-box defaults may not
always suit and can result in
user frustration and degraded
performance.

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Real-time profiling
• With default configuration, real-time profiling generates a query
selecting all values for the given field in the database and
returns results to the Campaign Server before displaying a de-
duplicated list of values in the profile dialog.
SELECT dbo.Customer.Income, COUNT(*) FROM dbo.Customer
GROUP BY dbo.Customer.Income ORDER BY
dbo.Customer.Income
• Particularly on large tables, these queries can cause
performance degradation and latency in displaying complete
lists of values to users.

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Configuration options
• Last step of table mapping
wizard
• Disable real-time profiling
• Select fields to pre-compute
distinct values for
• IBM Campaign
• Existing database table

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wizard
distinct values for
• IBM Campaign

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wizard
distinct values for
• IBM Campaign
• Setting datasource config UseSQLToProfile=TRUE will generate
a GROUP BY query, which may return complete results quicker,
but only once when query has completed.

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Keeping lists-of-values up-to-date
• When IBM Campaign pre-
computes values, it’s
important that the lists are
kept up to date so that users
are displayed valid and
current values.

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Keeping lists-of-values up-to-date
• When IBM Campaign pre-
computes values, it’s
important that the lists are
kept up to date so that users
are displayed valid and
current values.
• The 'Table Mappings' dialog
provides a manual option,
although a more automated
solution is to schedule a job
to run the Campaign Session
Utility (unica_acsesutil).

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Top-down Target Cell Spreadsheet
• A spreadsheet-like feature that displays all cells used in
flowcharts within a campaign, including assigned offers.
• TCS can also be used as a tool for cell-based offer assignment.
bottom-up
top-down

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Import data from a .csv

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Link target cells via Options menu

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Link targets via process box

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MailList is automatically configured

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Export data to a .csv

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Flowchart (outbound) triggers
• Enables the execution of a
command, batch file, or script
• From a Schedule, Call List, or
Mail List.
• On success or failure of a
flowchart run.

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Flowchart (outbound) triggers
• Enables the execution of a
command, batch file, or script
• From a Schedule, Call List, or
Mail List.
• On success or failure of a
flowchart run.
• Can be synchronous or
asynchronous...

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Synchronous outbound triggers
• Calling process waits for command to complete
and return with a success or failure status.
• If trigger fails, as indicated by a non-zero return
value, process box will error.
Use case: trigger third-party predictive model scores in
real-time and the flowchart would wait until it completed
before selecting from the updated model scores.
• Add a question mark (?) after the trigger name,
e.g. CopyToFTP?

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Asynchronous outbound triggers
• Flowchart processing continues immediately,
i.e. the process that called the trigger does not
wait for it to succeed or fail.
• You do not have to add a termination character,
i.e. this is default behaviour. However, you can
specify it explicitly by adding an ampersand (&)
after the trigger name,
e.g. CopyToFTP&

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Flowchart annotations
• You can annotate a flowchart to communicate
with other users of the flowchart and clarify the
intention and functionality of processes.
• Annotations appear as yellow sticky notes.
• Use them to highlight specific capabilities or
reasons for using specific logic in a flowchart…

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right-click process to add annotations

show/hide annotations
• Annotations are included when
copy/pasting/templating flowcharts.
• Annotations will appear when
printing flowcharts.

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Known limitations/issues
• Annotations do not resize when zooming the workspace.
• Annotations can be moved out of the flowchart window and the
only way to access them is to move the associated process box
in the direction of the annotation, then drag the annotation back
to the main flowchart area and move the process box back to
its original position.
• There is a defect with annotations that was fixed in version
9.1.1.3, whereby you are not able to save a flowchart after
removing annotations. IBM’s recommendation is to avoid using
annotations altogether prior to version 9.1.1.3.

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IT and Administrators
Out-of-box configurations and utilities you should be taking advantage of…

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Datasource configuration
• IBM Campaign comes packaged with a number of datasource
configuration templates for the platforms that are supported.
• Each has 100+ options for tuning
how Campaign works with the db.
• DBAs should become familiar
with and test these options.
• In particular, understanding the
options relating to authentication
and performance can be
beneficial.

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Datasource configuration
Authentication ASMSaveDBAuthentication (TRUE)
ASMUserForDBCredentials
DSNUsingOSAuthentication (FALSE)
Usability ExcludeFromTableDisplay
OwnerForTableDisplay
TempTablePrefix (UAC)
Performance MaxQueryThreads (DB2:5|SQL Server:8|Oracle:16)
MaxTempTableJoinPctSelectAll (90)
MaxTempTableJoinPctWithCondition (20)
TempTablePostExecutionSQL
UseSQLToProfile (FALSE)

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Campaign Server Manager (unica_svradm)
• Command-line utility, run from the
Campaign Analytics Server.
• Most commonly used to stop/kill un-
responsive flowchart processes.
• Can also be used to change ownership
of a user’s campaigns (for example
when a user leaves the business).
• Valid/correct owner better supports
functionality such as ‘My Campaigns’,
folder/object owner permissions and the
<OWNER> trigger token.

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Campaign Server Manager (unica_svradm)
• Determine the user IDs from the USM_USER system table.
• Note: this does NOT change ownership of scheduled tasks –
to do this, simply re-save schedule logged-in as new user.

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Campaign session utility (unica_acsesutil)
• Many uses, included import/export
sessions and generate table catalogs.
• Also, programmatic refresh of lists-of-
values generated by Campaign for
profiling, as well as table record counts
(important for performance).
• Ensure profile values and statistics do
not become stale.

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Campaign session utility (unica_acsesutil)
• Options for updating records counts, or lists-of-values or both
([ -n | -l | -a ]), for a given table catalog.

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Campaign cleanup utility (unica_acclean)
• Housekeeping utility to remove temporary
tables on database(s) and files on the
Campaign Analytics Server.
• Orphaned, i.e. left behind by objects that
have since been deleted.
• Associated with a specified object or object
type, based on given criteria.
• Left un-checked, these files and tables
will gradually eat up space, resulting in
errors and potential outages.

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• Options to report only; delete based on report, or delete directly.
38
Campaign cleanup utility (unica_acclean)

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Notes
• For unica_acclean, report first, there is no roll-back from delete!
• All require the appropriate permissions to be granted to the
necessary user.
• See the Campaign Administrator Guide for details on all these
standard utilities.

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A few more (very) quick tips…
Configurable, functional and organisational

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dashboard
use out-of-box or
custom portlets
home
page
users can set their
own home page
flowchart
logging
LoggingCategories
LoggingLevels
ConfigurableTips

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flattening
output
files
transpose from one
row per customer/per
offer, to one row per
customer with multiple
offer columns
mapping
wide
tables
re-map as base +
dimensions (of
grouped fields) to aid
navigation
applying
volume
threshold
user variable to
dynamically apply
volume threshold
critera
FunctionalTips

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champion
identify super-user(s)
as focal point for
learning and sharing
of best practice
learning
invest in training for
new starters
ongoing skills
development
network
LinkedIn groups
IBM Knowledge
Centre
IBM events
OrganisationalTips

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Resources
Online resources for more continued learning

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Infographics
www.slideshare.net/purplesquareconsulting
Session ID: 1651A

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Tutorial Videos
www.youtube.com/user/purplesquarevideos
Session ID: 1651A

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IBM Knowledge Centre
www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter
Session ID: 1651A

#ibmamplify
Purple Square Consulting
www.purplesquareconsulting.com
Session ID: 1651A

IBM Amplify 2016 - Session 1651 - How standard IBM Campaign functions and utilities can improve usability and adoption.

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