Profiles Sync Tables and Materialized Views

Through Profiles Sync, Segment provides data sets and models that can help you enrich customer profiles using any warehouse data available to you.

Using a practical example of how Segment connects and then merges anonymous profiles, this page explains the tables that Segment lands, as well as the tables you materialize as part of Profiles Sync.

Case study: anonymous site visits lead to profile merge

To help illustrate the possible entries and values populated into Profiles Sync tables, view the event tabs below and consider the following scenario.

Suppose the following four events lead to the creation of two separate profiles:

// An anonymous visit to twilio.com triggers a Page call:

anonymous_id: 5285bc35-05ef-4d21
context.url: twilio.com
timestamp: May 2, 14:01:00

// Segment generates Profile 1, with a single known ID: 5285bc35-05ef-4d21

// Moments later, the same user signs up to Twilio with their email address.
// This triggers an Identify call:

anonymous_id: 5285bc35-05ef-4d21
context.url: twilio.com/try-twilio
timestamp: May 2, 14:01:47
email: jane.kim@segment.com

// Segment modifies Profile 1, adding an email address to the anonymous ID generated in Event 1.

// Weeks later, an anonymous visit to twilio.com triggers a Page call:

anonymous_id: b50e18a5-1b8d-451c
context.url: twilio.com/education
timestamp: June 22, 10:47:15
email: jane.kim@segment.com

// Segment generates Profile 2, with a single known ID: b50e18a5-1b8d-451c.

// Moments later, the same user signs up for a Twilio webinar.
// This triggers an Identify call:

anonymous_id: b50e18a5-1b8d-451c
context.url: twilio.com/events/webinars
timestamp: June 22, 10:48:00
email: jane.kim@segment.com

// Segment understands that Profile 2 and Profile 1 are the same user.
// Segment merges Profile 2 into Profile 1.
// Profile 1 now has two values for anonymous_id: 5285bc35-05ef-4d21 and b50e18a5-1b8d-451c.

Initially, Segment generates two profiles for the first three calls. In the final event, though, Segment understands that Profile 2 should be merged into Profile 1. Segment then merges Profile 2 into Profile 1, merging away Profile 2 in the process.

Profiles Sync tracks and provides information about these events through a set of tables, which you’ll learn about in the next section.

Tables Segment lands

Using the events from the profile merge case study, Segment would land the following tables as part of Profiles Sync.

The id_graph_updates table

The id_graph_updates table maps between the following:

• segment_id: the profile ID that Segment appends to an event or an identifier at the time it was first observed
• canonical_segment_id: the fully-merged segment ID (that is, the profile Segment now understands any events or identifiers to map to)

As a result, this table contains information about the creation and merging of profiles, as well as the specific events that triggered those changes.

Using the profile merge scenario, Segment would generate three new entries to this table:

In this example, the table shows profile_2 mapping to two places: first to itself, then, later, to profile_1 after the merge occurs.

Recursive entries

Segment shows the complete history of every profile. If, later, profile_1 merges into a different profile_0, Segment adds recursive entries to show that profile_1 and profile_2 both map to profile_0. These entries give you a comprehensive history of all profiles that ever existed.

If you’ll use Profiles Sync to build models, refer to the id_graph model, which can help you put together a complete view of a customer.

The external_id_mapping_updates table

This table maps Segment-generated identifiers, like segment_id, to external identifiers that your users provide. It has the following columns:

The anonymous site visits sample used earlier would generate the following events:

In this table, Segment shows three observed identifiers. For each of the three identifiers, Segment outputs the Segment ID initially associated with the identifier.

The profile_traits_updates table

The profile_traits_updates table maps each segment_id with all associated profile traits.

Segment updates this table:

• for each identify call that updates one or more traits for a segment_id.
• for any merge where traits from two previously separated profiles are now combined.

In the event that two profiles merge, Segment only updates the profile_traits_updates table for the canonical_segment_id, or the fully merged id.

From the profile_traits_updates table, use Segment’s open-source dbt models, or your own tools to materialize the profile_traits table with all profiles and associated profile traits in your data warehouse.

The identifies, page, screens, and track tables

These tables show the instrumented events themselves. Entries in these tables reflect payloads that you instrument according to the Segment spec.

These event tables are similar to the tables landed by Segment warehouse integrations, with the following exceptions:

• Events are combined in a single schema. For example, if you have three sources going into a single space, Segment produces one schema, not three.
• These tables have two extra columns:
  • segment_id: the profile ID at the time the event came through. That profile may have since merged.
  • event_source_id: the specific source ID of the incoming event

The previous result would generate two entries in the pages table:

And two entries in the identifies table:

All these events were performed by the same person. If you use these tables to assemble your data models, though, always join them against id_graph to resolve each event’s canonical_segment_id.

Profiles Sync schema

Profiles Sync uses the following schema: <profiles_space_name>.<tableName>.

If your space has the same name as a source connected to your Segment Warehouse destination, Segment overwrites data to the Event tables.

Tables you materialize

Every customer profile (or canonical_segment_id) will be represented in each of the following tables.

The id_graph table

This table represents the current state of your identity graph, showing only where a segment_id is now understood to point.

The most recent entry for each segment_id from id_graph_updates reflects this. After the four example events, id_graph would show the following:

Segment drops most diagnostic information from this table, since it’s designed for reference use. In this case, you’d learn that any data references to profile_2 or profile_1 now map to the same customer, profile_1.

The external_id_mapping table

Use this table to view the full, current-state mapping between each external identifier you’ve observed and its corresponding, fully-merged canonical_segment_id.

In the case study example, you’d see the following:

The profile_traits table

Use the profile_traits table for a singular view of your customer. With this table, you can view all custom traits, computed traits, SQL traits, audiences, and journeys associated with a profile in a single row.

The profile_traits table contains the last seen value for any of your customer profile traits that Segment processes as an Identify call.

If Segment later merges away a profile, it populates the segment_id it merged in the merged_to column.

In the case study example, Segment only collected email. As a result, Segment would generate the following profile_traits table: