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Data sources overview

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Dynamics 365 Customer Insights provides connections to bring data from a broad set of sources. Connecting to a data source is often referred to as the process of data ingestion. After ingesting the data, you can unify, generate insights, and activate the data for building personalized experiences.

Tip

To upload a single CSV file, unify the data, and automatically generate insights, go to Get started with Customer Insights using a single data source.

Data source attachment or import

You can attach or import multiple data sources into Customer Insights. The links below provide instructions on adding and editing data sources.

Attach a data source

If you have data prepared in one of Microsoft's Azure data services, Customer Insights can easily connect to the data source without having to reingest the data. Select one of the following options:

Import and transform

If you use on-premises data sources, Microsoft, or third-party data, import and transform the data using Power Query connectors.

Data sources page

If your environment was configured to use Customer Insights storage and you use on-premises data sources, you use Power Platform dataflows. With Power Platform dataflows, you can view shared data sources and data sources managed by others. The Data Sources page lists the data sources in three sections:

  • Shared: Data sources that can be managed by all Customer Insights admins. Power Platform dataflows, your own storage account, and attaching to a Dataverse-managed data lake are examples of shared data sources.
  • Managed by me: Power Platform dataflows created and managed only by you. Other Customer Insights admins can only view these dataflows but not edit, refresh, or delete them.
  • Managed by others: Power Platform dataflows created by other admins. You can only view them. It lists the owner of the dataflow to reach out to for any assistance.

Note

All tables can be viewed and used by other users. While data sources are owned by the user who created them, the resulting tables from the data ingestion can be used by every user of Customer Insights.

If your environment does not use Power Platform dataflows, the Data Sources page contains only a list of all data sources. No sections display.

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