From the Lake to the Model

Chapter 8 of Data 360 Architect, Part 1: Bringing Data In. Previous: Data Transforms.

We’ve brought data in through the streams, it’s landed in the lake, and in chapter 7 we reshaped what needed reshaping. Now comes the step everything after it depends on: the model. Identity resolution, segments, insights and actions all run on the model, not on the lake. Nothing happens until the data is mapped to it.

The positions in this chapter

• Nothing is used until it’s mapped. Only mapped fields can be used, so decide which fields are mapped at all.
• People go into the standard model; reference data can go one to one. A pilot or a customer lands in the Individual and its contact points, because that’s where identity resolution, segments and activation look for people. Airports and runways can keep their own shape, in a custom object.
• Name it for what it is, once. A custom object’s name is what everything downstream uses.
• Read every mapping right to left. Automapping is a start, not a review; check each one before it’s saved.
• Get the party ready before identity resolution. It can only match what the model gives it: the IDs that match across sources, with one type and one name, spelled exactly the same everywhere, and the phone in a format made for matching.

The path through this chapter

Five modules, each standing on its own.

1. What the Model Is. Three layers and three jobs, the Customer 360 Data Model, the two kinds of mapping, and what’s built on the model.
2. Reference Data, One to One. Airports and runways, all the way through: a custom data model object, its name, its types, value suggestions and relationships.
3. People Data, Into the Standard Model. The pilots file into the Individual, then the contact points for email and phone, and how to read and check a mapping.
4. The Party, Ready for Identity Resolution. The Party field, Party Identification, constants from formula fields, and the phone formatted for matching.
5. Checkpoint 1, Steve Trucking. The end of Part 1: three of Steve Trucking’s sources, door to model. Try the Checkpoint 1 challenge first.

What an architect decides here

• For each source, standard or custom: people and the things the business acts on into the standard model, reference data one to one into custom objects.
• Where the standard model has gaps, whether to add custom fields to a standard object or create a custom one.
• The key for each contact point, so two emails for one person never share one.
• The IDs that match across sources, with the type and name every source uses for them.
• Who reviews every mapping, right to left, before it’s saved.

Explore

All checked 2026-11-14.

• Customer 360 Data Model (opens in a new tab), Salesforce Help.
• Data Mapping Best Practices (opens in a new tab), Salesforce Help.

Next: The Individual: Identity Resolution (coming soon)