How do contact fields get populated? Why are they different from CDO records?

Jay1989

My manager wants to understand how a contact field - for example, "Product Title" is getting populated.

I am confused because when I looked at the CDO records for a particular contact - the Product Code displayed for that contact is different from that listed in the contact view.

Could anyone help me understand why there is a difference?

Also, how does one go about understanding the source of information for a contact field?

Piotr Sito

Hello @User_MPXPU

Custom Objects serve as a data extension to the standard database entities that are found in Eloqua: Contacts and Accounts. CDO allows you to compile and use unique data that is relevant to a contact but is not necessarily a static information about the contact themselves. In other words, custom object fields are fully customizable and data stored in a CDO can be tied to a contact but doesn't have to.

There are multiple ways in Eloqua to update either CDO or contact records, for example:

• manual upload
• form submissions
• SFTP import
• CRM integration

In terms of understanding the source of information for a contact field you can for example view the upload history of contacts by users:

1. In Eloqua, go to Settings > Platform Extensions : Integration
2. Click Inbound
3. Click Reporting, and then select Upload History > View Upload Details

For each contact field you can also check whether there are dependencies by right-clicking the contact field and selecting Show Field Dependencies. This will tell you whether a particular contact field is for example used in a form/Auto Sync etc.

Hope this helps.

Piotr Sito

Senior Marketing Automation Specialist

https://ivenium.marketing/?utm_source=topliners

Jay1989

Hi @Piotr Sito - this worked perfectly. Thank you so much.

I was able to view the dependencies by right-clicking the contact field and selecting Show Field Dependencies. This is exactly what my manager requested.