About action types

Action types are a crucial component of Campaign Manager. They tell Campaign Manager how to sort and filter ingested data into data that is actionable for your use case. For examples of use cases, read Sales IQ & Campaign Manager use cases.

Manage action types in the Action Types worksheet. Depending on your user permissions, the worksheet will resemble the following image.

Attributes

Each action type has the following attributes:

• Action Type ID—Unique ID for the action type. You cannot change this ID after creating the action type.

• Action Type Name—Descriptive name of the action type.

• Scope—Scope value of the action type. This value contributes to an action type's Product Group Action (PGA) scope value. PGA scope specifies how Campaign Manager handles potential duplicate actions in a single publish, and how new actions are published against active, published actions.

  Action types with an identical combination of the following output attributes have the same PGA scope:

  • Scope
  • Customer ID
  • Product group ID
  • Record ID

• Rank—Defines the rank of different action types with the same scope. Action types with a lower rank value take precedence over action types of the same scope with a higher rank value. Rank applies only when handling actions with the same PGA scope in a single publish event.

• Product Field—This attribute is blank by default. It is relevant only if you're using Campaign Manager in tandem with Sales IQ. All available fields in the Sales IQ Products worksheet populate this attribute as dropdown options.

  The selected dropdown option designates the field on the Sales IQ Products worksheet that corresponds to the product group ID values used with the action type. To refresh this attribute's dropdown options, run the Update Product Field Dropdown worksheet action. Use this attribute to:

  • Define a product scope for a campaign.
  • Validate the product group ID values on the Action Review worksheet prior to publishing.
  • Track sales against published actions for the purpose of measuring benefits.

• Engine Output Worksheet View—Defines the source view for the action. When a campaign runs, actions are pulled from this worksheet view for each action type included in the campaign run, based on the identified thresholds and scope of the campaign. Multiple action types can reference the same Engine Output Worksheet View if different threshold conditions are required. Custom actions that are imported directly to the Action Review worksheet in Campaign Manager do not have a value populated here.

• Periods Before To Measure—Defines the number of aggregation periods (weeks or months) before the published date for each action of this type to include in the before period. Use for benefit measurement.

• Periods After to Measure—Defines the number of aggregation periods (weeks or months) after the pursued date for each action of this type to include in the after period. Use for benefit measurement.

Worksheet actions

The Action Types worksheet has two worksheet actions.

• Update Product Field Dropdown—Refreshes the values available in the Product Field dropdown for each action type. Values are based on the set of fields defined in the Sales IQ Products worksheet.
• Update Engine Output Field Dropdown—Refreshes the values available in the Engine Output Field dropdown on each engine output threshold condition. Values are based on the set of fields that exist in the corresponding Engine Output Worksheet View.

Metrics

Action metrics define campaign-specific thresholds for an action type.

Manage action metrics in the Action Metrics worksheet. Depending on your user permissions, the worksheet will resemble the following image.

Each action metric has the following attributes:

• Action Type Id—Links each metric to an action type. This is part of the primary key for the action metric. You cannot modify this attribute after the action metric is created.
• Metric Name—Unique name for the action metric. This is part of the primary key for the action metric. You cannot modify this attribute after the action metric is created.
• Description—Description of the action metric.
• Default Value—Default value for the action metric. This is populated as the default metric threshold value when a campaign using this action type is first activated.

Conditions

Conditions of an action metric, or engine output threshold conditions, define how each action metric is applied to the records in the Engine Output Worksheet View when a campaign is run with the related action type. Engine output threshold conditions are not applicable for custom action types that do not have an Engine Output Worksheet View defined.

To manage an action type's engine output threshold conditions, go to the Action Types worksheet and toggle the dropdown icon to the left of the desired action type's ID. Depending on your user permissions, the dropdown worksheet will resemble the following image.

Each engine output threshold condition has the following attributes:

• Action Type Id—Links the condition to an action type. This is part of the primary key for the condition. You cannot modify this attribute after the condition is created.
• Condition Id—Unique ID for the condition. This is part of the primary key for the condition. You cannot modify this attribute after the condition is created.
• Engine Output Field—Designates the field on the Engine Output Worksheet View where the condition is applied. This field includes all available fields on the Engine Output Worksheet View. To refresh the available values in this dropdown, run the Update Engine Output Field Dropdown worksheet action.
• Operator—Operator used in the condition. As part of a campaign run, when you select applicable actions from the Engine Output Worksheet View, the values for Engine Output Field, Operator, and Action Metric are concatenated in that order and applied.
• Action Metric—Designates the action metric that serves as the threshold for the condition, as defined in each campaign that includes the action type. This field includes all available action metric values for the action type, as defined in the Action Metrics worksheet.

Add a condition

1. Expand the desired action type's dropdown worksheet.

2. Right-click the row of the desired action type, then select Add Engine Output Threshold Conditions.

   

3. Complete all required and desired fields in the modal.

4. In the bottom-right corner of the modal, select Save.