Persons

A Person entity is an identified entity that has interacted with or been loaded into the Mobile Database. It is identified by a person_id, which uniquely identifies the record. A customer can also define an external_person_id, a unique identify from the customer's system for reference and cross-linking.

A person can also be tracked/linked by a mobile number (MDN). This alternate identifier is sufficient in the short-term but is not an ideal identification long-term as mobile numbers can be changed, returned, ported and recycled.

Contents 

Associating Person Records

Because of the dynamic nature of mobile participation and campaigns, it is possible that person records could exist in either the Mobile Database or the Customer's system in any sequence/order. To do the best we can at trying to ensure the same person gets tied together and avoid inadvertently linking two different people, our primary emphasis is on not inadvertently linking two separate people. To meet that, the following logic will apply:

1. The person_id and external_person_id columns are always treated as the same person record and must be unique (the external_person_id can be omitted if it is not used/exist).
2. If the MDN and carrier_code match an existing person record, they will be considered to be the same Person entity. If the carrier_code does not match, then they will be assumed to be different people (since phone numbers get ported and/or recycled, and to ensure MMA compliance, it is not a valid assumption that carrier changes are always the same person).

Person Entity

This is the JSON representation of a Person entity within the APIs.

{
   "person_id":"AB3423",
   "external_person_id":"542342",
   "mobile_phone":{
      "mdn":"2995551234",
      "carrier_code":"104"
   },
   "custom_fields":{
      "first_name":"Steve",
      "birthdate":"1950-12-01T00:00:00Z",
      "rewards_id":"543557654",
      "favorite_stores":[
         {
            "id":"4",
            "name":"My Hardware Store"
         },
         {
            "id":"12",
            "name":"Local Grocery"
         }
      ]
   },
   "created_at":"2012-04-05T14:30Z",
   "updated_at":"2012-05-08T19:30Z",
   "url":"/companies/:id/mobiledb/persons/:person_id"
}

Elements

Custom Field Types