About Data Sources

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Data sources represent the platforms used to install Tealium to collect data for the Customer Data Hub . This article describes how data sources work, how to add them to your account using the interactive wizard, and where to use data sources within your account.

This article covers the following topics:

• What is a Data Source?
• How it Works
• Prerequisites

What is a Data Source?

A data source is any system that sends data to the Customer Data Hub. These systems include websites, native mobile applications, or any custom application that contains visitor event data to be collected. In Customer Data Hub, these system are presented as data sources. Data sources are platform-specific and provide the necessary code and instructions to complete an installation.

Examples of the types of data sources available include:

• iQ Tag Management (websites)
• iOS (native mobile)
• Android (native mobile)
• Apple TV
• Roku
• Python
• Java
• JavaScript (Beta)
• HTTP API
• File Import

Some data sources may have settings related to the specific platform of the installation.

How it Works

Data sources are used to easily identify and keep track of your applications that send data to Tealium. Each time you install Tealium in a new application or website, you are prompted to create a corresponding data source in the Customer Data Hub. When you create the corresponding data source, a unique value called a data source key is generated. The data source key is used in the code to match the installation to the data source in the Customer Data Hub. Each data source has a name and description that indicates the platform where they are installed.

Once a data source is created in the Customer Data Hub and the code is installed with the data source key, you can use Live Events to easily identify events being sent from that data source. From Live Events, you can then fuel connectors with specific data sources to match events from their source origin to their intended destination.

Data sources can be used to install code and display live events, as follows:

• Installing Code

  To begin installing Tealium, first create a data source for the platform on which your application is built, such as JavaScript, iOS, iQ Tag Management, Android, or Python. The data source provides the installation code and instructions for that platform. Each data source is uniquely identified with a data source key, which is used in your code to identify the installation as data sent to Tealium.

• Live Events

  Getting event data from your data source installation to display in Live Events is the first step to a successful implementation. Once you have installed Tealium into your application and ensured the data source key is in place, data sources can be used in Live Events to verify that the Customer Data Hub is receiving data properly. From Live Events, you can select a specific data source to filter the display to only show events from that data source.

Prerequisites

To get started, ensure that you have access to the following:

• Installation code of the targeted platform
• iQ Tag Management access (for web-based data sources)