DMO setup is mostly a configuration task in the Data Cloud Data Model area. Decisions about extending standard versus building custom DMOs should happen upfront; reversing them later is expensive.
- Review the standard Customer 360 Data Model
Data Cloud, Data Model. The standard DMOs are listed by category (Party, Engagement, Commerce, Marketing). Read the standard schema for each DMO you expect to use. Most use cases fit the standard model with minor extensions.
- Decide extend versus custom DMO per concept
For each concept in your data, decide: does it fit a standard DMO (extend) or does it need its own DMO (custom)? Most B2C concepts fit; industry-specific concepts (Insurance Policy, Patient Record) may need custom DMOs.
- Build or extend the DMO
For custom: Data Cloud, Data Model, New DMO. Set name, primary key, and field list. For extensions: open the standard DMO, add custom attributes. Both paths land you with a DMO definition ready to receive mappings.
- Map source DLOs to the DMO
For each Data Stream that should populate this DMO, configure the DLO-to-DMO mapping. Match source fields to DMO attributes. Set the relationship key for cross-DMO links.
- Configure relationships
Define lookup relationships from this DMO to related DMOs (Individual has many Email Engagements). Relationships enable segmentation across DMOs and Calculated Insights that aggregate child records.
Standard DMOs follow the Customer 360 model and integrate with packaged features. Custom DMOs handle concepts not in the standard model; require explicit relationship setup.
Required. Defines uniqueness on the DMO. For canonical entities, often generated by Identity Resolution; for event entities, typically a source-system event ID.
Many-to-one lookup, one-to-many child, or many-to-many bridge. Pick based on real-world cardinality of the related entities.
Per DLO, per field. Maps source-system attribute names to canonical DMO attribute names. The heart of cross-source harmonization.
- Wrong DLO-to-DMO mapping is the single most common Customer 360 implementation mistake. Sales Cloud Contact.FirstName and Marketing Cloud Subscriber.first_name must both map to Individual.FirstName or the canonical profile is incomplete.
- Custom DMOs require explicit relationships to standard DMOs. Skipping this breaks downstream segmentation across the data model.
- Field deprecation breaks dependent segments and Calculated Insights. Plan field changes carefully or accept rebuild cost.
- Primary key choice is hard to change after the DMO is in production. The wrong key leaks duplicate canonical records.
- Wide scans on rarely-filtered fields are slow and credit-expensive. Build for hot filter fields.