This document contains frequently asked questions that arise when working with Smart Connectors in TapClicks. You can quickly navigate to a particular FAQ by using the table of contents below.
General FAQs
How do I use Smart Connectors?
How do I download an assigning file for a Smart Connector?
Defining a Smart Connector
Can I upload my own icon for a Smart Connector?
What characters are accepted in service names?
Are there any best practices for my sample file?
What happens if I don’t fill in the second row of the sample file?
Why is there a limit on the sample file size?
Is there a limit on query size for database delivery types?
Do you actually pull in data from the sample file?
What is a defined pick-up location?
I've loaded my sample file, what's next?
My sample column headers file looks wrong. What should I do?
What characters are accepted in column labels?
What are the available field types?
How do I use the Assignment field?
What if I have a lifetime data set?
What if I want to load data that represents an entire month (or an entire week)?
Can you explain "Include in charts"?
What are the Operation dropdowns?
The Smart Connector wants me to apply an operation to an ID field from my file. Do I have to?
I have a number field but I can’t apply an operation. What’s going on?
Can you set up an FTP or SFTP for me?
What about a Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3 Bucket? Can you set up one of those for me?
What file types are supported for manual upload?
Where is the Manual Upload button?
How do I delete a Manual uploaded file?
What date formats are supported within the body of my data file?
I prefer not to use dashes. What are my options?
If I included a timestamp in my date format, will it be stored in the database?
What timezone do my manual files use on the dashboard?
What is margin and why would I use it?
How does “Footer rows to skip” work?
Why can’t I indicate how many header rows to skip on my file?
I made a mistake in my data file. Can I fix it?
Are there any data that can be changed after it has started loading?
If I change the operation type, how will that impact my data?
What if I made a mistake in regard to an item that cannot be modified?
When I delete all the data, will my previous data reload itself?
How do I use “Delete all data”?
What does the “Delete assignments as well” toggle do when I click “Delete all data”?
Why can’t I see the “Delete all data” button?
After I define a new Smart Connector, what's next?
What if I need to change my file delivery type after I've loaded the data?
Connecting to Data
Do I really have to assign data to clients?
Where does the list of assignments come from for a Smart Connector?
Processing Data
How far back does the Smart Connector pull data?
How many days of data will load each day for the Smart Connector?
How does the Smart Connector process my files by “Date”?
What happens if my file doesn’t have a date in the name?
If I’m processing data by date, does it matter where in the file name the date information appears?
Can I pull in data from multiple tabs?
Are there any restrictions on what name I give to a file?
Are there any limits on file size?
Are there any limits on how much data overall a given Smart Connector can process?
How does the Smart Connector process my data?
If I change the order of the columns in the files I upload, will my Smart Connector still work?
What happens if some of the columns in my file are empty?
What do I do if I don’t want that 0000-00-00 value to show up on my reports, what can I do?
What if I only want to add data rows to a single file. How can I get that data into the platform?
What happens if I switch from a directory delivery type to manual upload?
What is the best practice when changing delivery types?
Can Smart Connectors process a ZIP File?
Can a Smart Connector process an image in a CSV?
Can an email Smart Connector process data from a URL link in an email instead of a file attachment?
Can an email Smart Connector process data if there are multiple links?
Why am I getting emails about duplicate rows?
Displaying Data
I don’t see any data in my dashboard. What’s up?
My averages don’t look right. What’s going on?
General FAQs
What is a Smart Connector?
A Smart Connector is a tool that enables you to import data into TapClicks from a wide range of data sources and file formats. While TapClicks offers native integrations with hundreds of applications, a Smart Connector can be created to import data from any source and use it for reporting and analysis.
The most common use cases for Smart Connectors are uploading CSV files manually or retrieving data from Google Drive or Google Sheets. However, the Smart Connector is capable of importing data from virtually any source and can read the most commonly used file formats.
Once the Smart Connector is set up, it will automatically retrieve new data on a daily basis.
How do I use Smart Connectors?
See the setup guide.
How do I download an assigning file for a Smart Connector?
Defining a Smart Connector
Can I upload my own icon for a Smart Connector?
At this time, you cannot upload your own icon. Due to the TapClicks system utilizing the icons in many places, they must adhere to several standards to make them render correctly and be readable to most browsers.
What characters are accepted in service names?
The system can work with any UTF-8 characters, including numbers and special characters. That includes Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Russian, French, Spanish, and even Arabic.
| NOTE: Right-to-left languages are supported, but might render imperfectly based on the design of your dashboards. |
Are there any best practices for my sample file?
Yes. We recommend that your sample file has at least two rows in it, one for the column headers and one as a sample of what data might be contained in those rows.
The reason for the second row is that the system will make suggestions for the field type based on what it sees in that row. For instance, if it sees numerical characters, it will suggest a number field. If it sees a dollar sign, it will suggest currency. If it sees a date-type format, it will suggest a date, and so on.
What happens if I don’t fill in the second row of the sample file?
The file will be processed normally, although the system will not be able to give you type suggestions for your fields. In such circumstances, you will have to set those yourself in the configuration.
Why is there a limit on the sample file size?
This is because the file is really just to set up the Smart Connector definition. You can use something as small as a file with only the header row in it, or up to 50 MB. In the case of CSV files, we can support files that are even larger than that.
Is there a limit on query size for database delivery types?
Database delivery types work best with up to 10,000,000 rows of data. If you anticipate that your data set will go over this limit, we encourage you to reach out to customercare@tapclicks.com or your Customer Success Manager to work with our Data Solutions team to better understand your use case and define a scalable solution that will meet your needs.
Do you actually pull in data from the sample file?
We will if you tell us to. When defining “Load Sample Data”, there is an option to request the system look at the sample file, as well as anything from the defined pick-up location (if one is used).
What is a defined pick-up location?
A defined pick-up location is when you tell TapClicks exactly where to find your data. This includes FTP or SFTP servers, Dropbox, an Amazon S3 Bucket, or a Google Drive.
I’ve loaded my sample file, what’s next?
After you load your sample file, you'll see a list of all the fields in that sample file and their field type, that were identified from the sample file. These field type definitions tell the system how to handle each of the columns that are in the file. You have the opportunity to make changes to the field types as needed.
My sample column headers file looks wrong. What should I do?
If the column labels don’t line up with what you expected to push to the system, you will have to upload a sample file with valid column headers.
What characters are accepted in column labels?
The system can work with any UTF-8 characters, including numbers and special characters. That includes Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, Russian, French, Spanish, and even Arabic.
| NOTE: Right-to-left languages are supported, but might show imperfectly on the design of your dashboards. |
What are the available field types?
- Number
- Will be used for operations in the system like sums and formulas
- Cannot be used for assigning
- Cannot be used as a date range
- Decimal
- Displays the field with two decimals and can be used in system operations
- Cannot be used for assigning
- Cannot be used as a date range
- Percent
- Displays the field with a % and two decimals and can be used in system operations
- Cannot be used for assigning
- Cannot be used as a date range
- Currency
- Indicates that the field should work with the currency selection in the dashboard and can be used in system operations
- Cannot be used for assigning
- Cannot be used as a date range
- Text
- Stores and displays the field as a text string
- Cannot be used as a date range
- Date
- Stores and displays the field as a date value
- Cannot be used for assigning
- Duration
- Stores time duration
- Link
- Stores clickable URL links
- Call Recording URL
- Stores clickable URL links
- Thumbnail
- Stores image
- Phone Number
- Stores Phone Number
- Click to View URL
- Stores link to an image
- ID
- Stores ID field
How do I use the Assignment field?
This is the field (see image below) you and your team will use to connect data from your files to TapClicks dashboards. Fields used for assignment must be of type “Text”. Typically this is something like an advertiser name, a client name, a company name, or a campaign name. Think of it as the most granular item that might represent one of your customers.
If you have questions about how to approach this field, reach out to your Account Manager for guidance.
How do I use the Date field?
This Date field (see image below) indicates to the system what field is needed for the date range. This is an important field because it controls how data is impacted by the on-screen date range picker.
If you have questions about how to approach the Date field, reach out to your Account Manager for guidance.
What if I have a lifetime data set?
In that case, we typically suggest that you associate your data with something like a campaign start date or a campaign end date. It depends on how you want to report on that data.
What if I want to load data that represents an entire month (or an entire week)?
In this case, we recommend loading that data and associating it with the first or last day of the month. Or, if you want to load it weekly, load the data on the same day of the week every week (e.g. Aug 11, Aug 18, Aug 25).
Can you explain "Is Metric"?
This is an option used to indicate if the associated field is a performance metric, like impressions or clicks. The Smart Connector will automatically mark fields with this tag if they are Number, Decimal, Percent, or Currency types, but there may be cases where you don't want to classify this value as a metric. Numeric values that don't change day to day, like a budget or an impressions targeted value, would not want to be classified with this "Is Metric?" tag.
Can you explain "Include in charts"?
This is an option used to indicate if the associated value should be included in the row breakdown chart and the Report Generator chart (see image below).
What makes a field unique?
Looking at your data, what makes each row different from the row above it? Typically this is an ID type field like a Campaign ID or an Ad ID, but could also be a keyword. Alternatively, select a number of fields, which when combined, will always provide different combinations in rows.
If you have questions about how to approach this field, see this article or reach out to your Account Manager for guidance.
What are the Operation dropdowns?
The Operation dropdown enables you to define how the system will handle the fields that you defined as a metric. You can either add values together for a field or you can average values together.
The Smart Connector wants me to apply an operation to an ID field from my file. Do I have to?
No. Either change the checkbox for “Is metric?” or change the field type to “Text”.
I have a number field but I can’t apply an operation. What’s going on?
Check to make sure that the value has the “Is Metric?” checkbox checked. Operations can only be applied to metrics.
What is a drilldown?
This is what we call the links that take you from one level in the standard product to a lower, more granular level. It allows you to “drill down” into additional data detail. By default, we call these campaigns, but you can change this to reflect something more pertinent to your data set in the Smart Connector definition.
Can you set up an FTP or SFTP for me?
Yes, for a small monthly maintenance fee. Contact your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com for more information.
What about a Google Drive, Dropbox, or Amazon S3 Bucket? Can you set up one of those for me?
We do not host and manage those options at this time. You can however connect up to your own hosted accounts on these systems as you see fit.
I don’t want to set up any of these hosting locations. Can I just load data into the system as I need to?
Yes. You can load data using our manual option or the email delivery method. For the manual delivery method, you would load data using the Manual Upload function for the Smart Connector. For the Email delivery method, you would have your source system email files directly to the email address noted on your Smart Connector.
| NOTE: if you do not have the delivery type set to Email, then you will not see an email address to schedule files to |
What file types are supported for manual upload?
CSV, TSV, XLSX, Google sheets (if using Google Drive), JSON, ODS and GZ files.
Where is the Manual Upload button?
When you navigate to Data→Smart Connectors, you’ll see a list of Smart Connectors that have been previously defined. To the far right of each one (see image below), you’ll see two buttons: one for upload and one for edit. Click the Upload icon (i.e., up arrow) and you can drop in the files you need (see image below). In this method, your files do not need to have a name-date format in the file name.
How do I delete a manual uploaded file?
There are instances where you may have uploaded a file that was incorrect. If you would like to remove or delete a file that was previously uploaded manually, you can delete it by navigating to the manage manual uploads within the Smart Connector options
What date formats are supported within the body of my data file?
The system supports ISO 8601 date formats. The best practice is to use the ISO Standard YYYY-MM-DD. See examples below for April 5th, 2022.
| NOTE: You’ll always be correct if your month number precedes your day number OR if you use text to describe the month. |
| Format | Example |
| YYYY-MM-DD | 2022-04-05 |
| YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM |
2022-04-05 11:30 2022-04-05 22:30 |
| YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS | 2022-04-05 11:30:05 |
| YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS-HH:MM | 2022-04-05T11:30:05-00:00 |
| mm-dd-yyyy | 04-05-2022 |
| m-dd-yyyy | 4-05-2022 |
| m-d-y |
04-05-22 04-5-22 4-05-22 4-5-22 |
| m-d |
04-05 4-05 04-5 4-5 |
| d-mon-YYYY |
05-Apr-2022 5-Apr-2022 |
| d-mon | 05-Apr 5-Apr |
| mon-d-YYYY |
Apr-05-2022 Apr-5-2022 |
| Month-d-YYYY |
April-05-2022 April-5-2022 |
| day of week, month d, 2016 |
Thursday, April 05, 2022 Thursday, April 5, 2022 |
| day of week, month d, 2016 | Thu, April 05, 2022 Thu, April 5, 2022 |
| day of week, mon d, 2016 |
Thursday, Apr 05, 2022 Thursday, Apr 5, 2022 |
| day of week, mon d, 2016 | Thu, Apr 5, 2022 |
I prefer not to use dashes. What are my options?
You have the following options:
| Hyphens or dashes | - |
| Commas | , |
| Periods | . |
| Back-slashes | \ |
| Forward-slashes | / |
| Spaces | ` ` |
| Underscores | _ |
| Pipe character | | |
I tried to use a date format like “Thur, April 7, 2022” or “Tues, Apr 05, 2022” and I got an error. What’s going on?
This is because the day-of-week standard abbreviations use three letters (i.e., “Tue”, “Thu”) and not four.
If I included a timestamp in my date format, will it be stored in the database?
If it’s tagged as “Use for Date Range?”, the system will ignore the timestamp during processing. If you really need it, we suggest that you define another field for “Use for Date Range” and then store that timestamp date as a text field. That will allow you to see the full date, with the timestamp, in the product.
What timezone do my manual files use on the dashboard?
The Smart Connector will load manual files in UTC.
What is margin and why would I use it?
A margin is an additional amount or percentage above the actual spend for a given account (see image below). Use cases for this include when you want to obscure the actual spend for a bundled product or if you charge a service fee and want it reflected in your shared reports.
How does “Footer rows to skip” work?
This is primarily for files that are generated from a system that includes rows at the bottom of the file like a “total” row or information about how the report was generated. Rather than force you to manually change all those files before loading them, we allow you to tell the system to skip some rows before processing.
Unlike header rows, which are handled automatically, footer rows still need to be defined. For example, say your data has a “total” row at the bottom of it. By telling the system to skip that row, your data will not be inflated. The goal is to minimize the edits you need to make to the file.
Why can’t I indicate how many header rows to skip on my file?
The system automatically skips any rows in the header that are less than three columns wide.
I made a mistake in my data file. Can I fix it?
It depends on the type of mistake you made and if the data has already started loading. If you have not yet assigned anything and the data hasn’t started loading yet, you can make modifications to your data. It is essential you do not make changes after the data has started loading. If you change something critical to the feed definition, like the Uniqueness Key or the Date Field, while it’s loading, the risk of data integrity problems goes up. If you ever have any questions, you can always reach out to your account manager.
Are there any data that can be changed after it has started loading?
The following items can be changed after the data starts loading:
- Service Name
- Service Icon
- Is Active?
- Column Label
- Operation
- Drilldown / View Name
- Delivery Type
- Data File Directory Path
- Is Metric?
The following items cannot be modified after the data starts loading:
- Sample Data Upload
- Sample File Column
- Field Type
- Assignment Field
- Date Field
- Unique Fields
- Include in Charts?
- File Name Date Format
- Footer Rows to Skip
If I change the operation type, how will that impact my data?
The next time that you look at your data in the dashboard, the values will recalculate based on the change you made. This is because the view is reset every time you refresh the dashboard display.
What if I needed to change an item that cannot be modified?
In that case, you will need to define a new Smart Connector so long as you need the same data you have in the database today. If you absolutely need to make a change to say the “Assignment”, “Date” or “Uniqueness” keys, you can use the “Delete all Data” button. This feature will purge any data loaded for that Smart Connector to date. Once purged, you can then edit the Smart Connector fields.
When I delete all the data, will my previous data reload itself?
Yes. That’s a feature of the “Delete All Data” function. It will wipe the data clean and also prime your assignments to re-process that data from your files. Just hit “Update Data”.
How do I use “Delete all data”?
1] On the Data menu, click Smart Connectors. Navigate through the list of Smart Connectors to find the desired connection.
2] On the right side of the desired Smart Connector, click on the Show More icon (i.e. three vertical dots).
3] From the dropdown list, click Delete all data (see image below)
4] Follow the prompts to delete your Smart Connector data.
| NOTE: You will have the option to drop your assignments as well. If you only want to delete the data, you don’t have to drop the assignments. If you do drop the assignments, you will need to re-assign all your data to a TapClicks Client before you can use that data in visualizations. |
What does the “Delete assignments as well” toggle do when I click “Delete all data”?
On the dialog screen, you will have the option to purge the assignments (see image below). If you are not changing the field that you assign by, then you don’t need to drop the assignments. This will ensure that all the assignment work you’ve done does not get lost in the process.
However, if you do change the field that you assign by, you’ll want to remove the previous assignments. Think of it this way, say you were assigning by advertiser but you need to assign by campaign. Keeping the old advertiser-level connections doesn’t help you since the Smart Connector you set up was edited to assign by campaign.
Why can’t I see the “Delete all data” button?
If you have already deleted all data for a given Smart Connector, or if no data have been loaded for this Smart Connector, this button will not appear because there is nothing in the database to delete.
After I define a new Smart Connector, what's next?
After you define a new Smart Connector, you will need to make sure you hit the following checkpoints when it comes to visualizing your data:
- Assign your data: You can do these in bulk using the manage assignments feature.
- Create calculations: You can use this feature to ensure data integrity with your new Smart Connector data. Define underlying formulas so that when you change your aggregation and date ranges on your dashboards, the metric is recalculated on the fly.
- Create widgets: Since this is a new data source, you’ll need to configure new widgets on your dashboards.
- Create channels: Similar to widgets, since this is a new data source, new channels may need to be defined based on how you report this data to your advertisers.
- Define margin & markup rules: If you need to apply any margin or markup to your cost data brought in through a Smart Connector, you can do this in the Margin Rules area.
What if I need to change my file delivery type after I've loaded the data?
You can do this, but make sure that when you change your underlying data source, the same data is located in the new source. For example, let’s say you move from an Amazon S3 bucket to an FTP location. You’ll want to make sure that the underlying data are available in that new location.
If you need assistance with this change, feel free to reach out to your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com.
Connecting to Data
Do I really have to assign data to clients?
Yes, you do, but if all the data from your Smart Connector are going to be assigned to a single client, there is a toggle in the Smart Connector creation process to help with this (see image below). By toggling on “Assign this SC to a single client”, once you’re done configuring your Smart Connector, you will be directed to the Manage Data Sources screen where you will have to select which client to assign all these data against. Once complete, all existing and future data will be processed and associated with this individual TapClicks client record.
I want to assign as many clients to my Smart Connector data as I can at once to save time. Can I do that?
Yes, you can use the Manage Assignments feature. There is a way to download your assignments, configure them in CSV format, upload to your dashboard and see your results. If there were any issues with what you tried to upload, the resulting CSV will tell you assignment by assignment if there were any problems. Once complete, you can click Update Data.
To get to this feature, go to Data → Data Sources→ Manage Assignments (see image below).
Where does the list of assignments come from for a Smart Connector?
This list is generated by either…
- Combing through all the files you have on the hosting location, or
- The dedicated file for assigning (if you use this feature), or
- The dedicated query that you defined for assigning (if you use this feature and a database delivery type).
For Snowflake Smart Connectors, what is the transport mechanism between TapClicks Snowflake connectors and TapClicks for uploading a CSV file?
We use the Snowflake PDO driver to connect securely to Snowflake through a certificate, and TLSv1.2 for any internal communication within our network. If you want to know more about the Snowflake PDO driver, please reach out to Snowflake directly.
Processing Data
How far back does the Smart Connector pull data?
When you connect a data source to TapClicks, the system automatically updates data from that source so that your reporting and insights stay up to date. This process of going out and collecting data from the source is called data loading.
There are two types of data loads that take place when you connect your data:
- Initial data load: triggered when you connect your assignments to a data source the first time and the system tries to fetch historical data
- Periodic load: data collection that takes place daily by TapClicks
The amount of historical data that is requested for a given data load is known as the lookback period. Each data source and data load type will have a different lookback period. It is defined by the respective application based on a number of factors, including what is available from the data source and how long those data loads take. This data is stored by TapClicks and allows you to see a history of all data that has been pulled for a given source for connected data sets.
Information about data loading times are shown on the Connection Status page, which is found in the Administration section of the left-side menu. If the lookback period balloon is empty for a given service, reach out to your customer success manager for more information.
How many days of data will load each day for the Smart Connector?
It depends. When a fetch is initiated (either the regular daily fetch or when you click Update Data, and there are no new assignments for the Smart Connector service in Manage Services, then the system will pull data from files within the last three days or so. The number of days can be configured in your Smart Connector (see image below).
The other case is where you’ve added a new assignment to a TapClicks client in Manage Data Sources. When this occurs, the system will refresh all the data for assignments from files with a name-date format within the last six months. This applies to anything that was previously assigned and anything that is newly assigned.
If you unassign something, then the data will no longer be picked up with any subsequent fetches. However, any data loaded to date will be maintained in the database.
What are assignments?
Assigning is the process by which we connect data from a source to a client in your TapClicks dashboard. When you go to Manage Data Sources, click an icon and see a list of available options, those are called assignments. These are connected to TapClicks client records.
How does the Smart Connector process my files by date?
If the files on the hosting location (like Google Drive, Dropbox, FTP, SFTP) all have a date format in the file's name, then the Smart Connector can be configured to process data by these strings. This format is typically YYYY-MM-DD but can be configured in the Smart Connector (see images below).
What happens if my file doesn’t have a date in the name?
If your files don’t have a date in the name, you can have the Smart Connector process data by Last Modified Date (see image below).
If I’m processing data by date, does it matter where in the file name the date information appears?
No, it does not. The only thing to be aware of is that the system will look for the date format in the file name from left to right. This means that the first string that the system finds that matches the format defined in the configuration will be used as the date for processing.
Can I pull in data from multiple tabs?
Yes, but if your tabs have different column headers, then you will want to create different Smart Connectors or child Data Views for each tab’s data. For example, in the image below, a Google Sheet has multiple tabs and you can see that you can select one or all tabs. Additionally, you can select tabs from the sheet based on a specific naming pattern.
Are there any restrictions on what name I give to a file?
Not at all. The system only looks at the date format and if you load based on the Last Modified date, even that is not required. You can name your files whatever you see fit.
Are there any limits on file size?
There is a limit on the size of the sample file that you can load, but that’s really the only concrete limit that TapClicks imposes.
If you are using files that are of type XLSX, files over 75,000 rows start to get challenging, so it's best to convert them to CSV.
Also, if your files are over 500MB, please let us know so we can review your feed to make sure it’s working as expected.
Keep in mind that when using large files, the assignment list will take a bit longer to load in Manage Data Source and your data fetches may take a bit longer to complete. If you have any questions, reach out to your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com.
Are there any limits on how much data overall a given Smart Connector can process?
Best practices show that a Smart Connector process approximately 100,000 rows of data in a given day and approximately 10,000,000 rows of data overall for most delivery types.
If you anticipate that your data set will go over these limits, we encourage you to reach out to customercare@tapclicks.com or your Customer Success Manger to work with our Data Solutions team to better understand your use case and define a scalable solution that will meet your needs.
How does the Smart Connector process my data?
The system looks at the column headers in the files. So, if you change the column heading in the new files, your data will not be picked up and there may be errors in the fetch. This is why the column headers are not able to be modified from the Smart Connector interface.
If I change the order of the columns in the files I upload, will my Smart Connector still work?
Yes, absolutely.
What happens if some of the columns in my file are empty?
As long as it’s not a field used for assignments, uniqueness, or the date range, the blank columns will be stored as blank fields in the database.
I have a “Campaign End Date” that is not used as my “Date” field and it was blank in my file, but I see a 0000-00-00 value on the screen. What happened?
Because dates are handled in a special way on the platform, if the value is empty during processing, the system tries to fill in something in the blank space. In this case, it defaults to 0000-00-00.
What do I do if I don’t want that 0000-00-00 value to show up on my reports, what can I do?
Try changing your column type to text instead. Then it will store the value as a text string and will show up empty when the field is blank in the source file.
What happens if I have a lot of different files with different column headers that I need to send into the Smart Connector?
While there are a number of ways to solve this, one of the simplest is to create separate folders on your hosting location for similar files with the same column headers. This means that if you want a Smart Connector with campaign data and another with keyword data, you should create a separate folder for each Smart Connector file type. This helps keep the files organized for process optimization and troubleshooting if needed.
What if I only want to add data rows to a single file? How can I get that data into the platform?
This can work using a Smart Connector configured to process data based on Last Modified Date. Using this, whenever that file is updated, it will be processed automatically. However, you will want to keep the old rows in your file as well since if you need to assign new data in the future, you’ll want the system to pick up the older rows from the file as well.
Another use case to be aware of is if you use a Google Sheet and just add new rows to the bottom of the document, those new rows will be processed, but over time your Google Sheet may get so large that it may not open in your web browser. In this case, we recommend a more traditional Smart Connector route.
If you have questions about your specific use case, please don’t hesitate to reach out to your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com.
What if I have a lot of files that all have the same column headers, for the same day, but are tied to different campaigns or advertisers?
We found this to be the most common when a vendor only allows you to pull data for a single advertiser or campaign at a time. There are a couple of ways to solve this scenario.
- If all your files include a field that represents the advertiser or campaign, you can have all those files loaded to the same directory and then use the Assignment field to parse out data to the appropriate TapClicks clients.
- If there isn’t anything in the file body itself that represents the advertiser, you can create a single Smart Connector per TapClicks client, and have the whole Smart Connector configured to a single client. Then, as new files are processed, that data will automatically be associated with the correct client.
- If your file names have a unique value in them that represents your advertiser, our Customer Solutions team can review how best to automate your use case.
To get in touch, reach out to your Customer Success Manager or customercare@tapclicks.com
What happens if I switch from a hosted delivery type to a manual upload?
Your assignments will not be impacted.
What is the best practice when changing delivery types?
- Backup assignments by using Manage Assignments for the Smart Connector.
- Delete all data for the Smart Connector.
- Edit the configuration as needed.
- Save the Smart Connector.
- Go back to Manage Data Sources and review your assignments.
- If needed, you will have the backup from step 1 as a reference, but you should only need to reconnect assignments if you dropped them in step 2 or if you changed your Assignment field.
I’m trying to pull data out of my dashboard from a Smart Connector and I have date fields that are not being treated as “Dates” except for the “use for date” field. What’s happening?
The Smart Connector only has a single defined date field, the one that is called “Use for Date”. The other Smart Connector fields that are indicated as “date” type fields in the Smart Connector definition are actually stored as text in the database.
Can Smart Connectors process a ZIP File?
Yes. You can use the email delivery method to send a zip file attachment containing one supported file.
Can a Smart Connector process an image in a CSV?
A smart connector will not allow for photos that are copied into cells to appear, but users do have a couple of other options. One option is to include a link to an image ("Click to view url" field type) that can render the images. The other option is to include a thumbnail field type.
Can an email Smart Connector process data from a URL link in an email instead of a file attachment?
Yes.
Can an email Smart Connector process data if there are multiple links?
Yes.
Why am I getting emails about duplicate rows?
When there are duplicate rows in the data file, TapClicks sends an email to users indicating such. Now, the data will still load and be processed for the Smart Connector, but ideally, users should remove redundant data to ensure data cleanliness.
Displaying Data
I don’t see any data in my dashboard. What’s up?
Did you hit Update Data? If not, go ahead and click that to prompt the system to fetch your data.
| NOTE: this could take time depending on how much data you’re processing. |
My averages don’t look right. What’s going on?
This is probably because of how averages are treated in the system. They are strict averages, meaning that we will take into account any 0 values, which could bring down your average.
If it’s something that is calculated off of based values in your file, we strongly suggest that you create a calculation (this is an Elite feature) to handle that task for data accuracy.
Example:
Average Conversion Rate: Average of the Conversion Rate fields = (3.18 + 3.88 + 3.63) / 3 = 3.56%
Actual Total Conversion Rate: (Total Conversions / Total Impressions) = (43 + 27 + 35) / (1352 + 696 + 965) = 3.48%