Standardize and Supercharge: Custom Data Aliasing Unlocks Full Platform Control
Every company has this problem: your Android team instruments user_id, your iOS team uses userID, and the web team implemented User_ID.
The result? You have three different fields for the exact same piece of information, creating messy, inconsistent data that your analytics team has to spend hours cleaning up in the warehouse.
This is a classic data governance problem. But what if the fix did more than just clean the data? What if it also promoted your most important custom data to be as powerful as a standard Datazoom field?
We are thrilled to announce Custom Data Management, a new feature that solves data hygiene and unlocks the full power of our platform for your custom data.
Standardize at the Source with "Aliasing"
First, this feature solves the "messy data" problem. You can now map all those disparate, semantically equivalent field names to a single, consistent "Alias".
In the new "Custom Data" tab, you can:
Define a "friendly name" or "Alias" (e.g., user_id)
Map your raw fields (like userID and User_ID) to this one alias.
Enforce a data type (like String, Boolean, or Integer), ensuring all values conform to the same type, regardless of how they were sent.
This alone is a massive win for data governance. But this is where it gets truly powerful.
Custom Data Becomes a "First-Class Citizen"
Once you "alias" a custom data point, it is promoted to a "first-class citizen" within the Datazoom console.
This means your new alias (e.g., user_id) now appears as an individually selectable data point in your Data Pipe configuration. It will be listed right alongside standard, out-of-the-box Datazoom fields like app_session_id or device_type.
This is a huge deal. Before, custom data was "all or nothing." Now, you have granular control. By making your custom data a first-class citizen, you unlock the full power of the Datazoom platform for it:
Granular Selection: You can individually select or deselect this custom data point for collection on each Data Pipe. Want to send user_id to your analytics tool but not to your ad partner? Just uncheck the box.
Data Optimization: You can easily stop collecting a specific custom field from certain platforms to reduce data volume, all without asking an engineer to change any code.
Full Platform Power: Your aliased data point can now be used in all of Datazoom's advanced features. It can be filtered, transformed, and enriched just like any other standard data point in our dictionaries.
This feature transforms custom data from a simple, passive payload into a fully integrated, configurable, and powerful part of your data strategy.
To learn more, visit the custom data management help site article.
