Glossary

Data Objects vs Entities

In the documentation that follows, you'll see us referring to Data Objects and Entities respectively.

Within the context of a user integration, Data Objects refer to a collection of data relevant to that type of entity. This collection is the columns/properties we've determined as relevant to the data object in question.

We consider Users, Groups and Segments as separate data objects, as they require different kinds of data to function.

A User Data Object might contain values such as username, email, group membership, employment data, etc. While a Group Data Object simply needs to know the name of the group, its identifier, and which group lies above it.

Entities then, are the actual users, groups and segments inside Winningtemp. Which have fields populated by the corresponding values of each type of data object.

As such, a User entity is the actual user in WT, which has fields such as username, email and group affiliation, and, via the integration, is now populated by the values provided in the relevant properties of the matching User Data Object.

External ID

The External ID is the unique identifier of a data object, which ties it to its entity counterpart in Winningtemp. The identifier is used by the integration to determine if an entity already exists for this data object.

As we have the same need to find a previously created entity for all types, Users, Groups and Segments, all of these objects need an external ID.