Introduction

Experian Collaboration allows for you and your partners to connect multiple data sets, using the industry’s most robust offline and digital graphs, to receive richer insights, activate smarter, and measure more accurately. Securely connect your data with your partner's data so that you can achieve more.

 

This article will take you through details on how to send and receive data to enable collaboration. Both Experian clients and their partners can use this article to understand how to send and receive data for collaboration. 

Experian points of contact

  • Main project point of contact: Experian Project Manager (PM). They will be your main point of contact during the Experian Collaboration project, they will help facilitate data transfers and answer any questions you have regarding resolution or collaboration processing. 
  • Interest in other Experian products or services: Experian Account Executive or Relationship Manager. Please work with your sales team for Collaboration contracting or if you are interested in using more Experian products or services.

 

Experian collaboration process

  1. When the contract for Collaboration is signed, an Experian Project Manager (PM) will introduce themselves and be your main point of contact during the project.
  2. Select your delivery location and work with Experian to enable transfers.
  3. Format your data input file based on the guidelines in this article below.
  4. Name the data file using this structure:
  • Ideal file name structure: Client name_Unique identifier_Date file was added to delivery location
  • Sample file name: PetesStores_123456_11.7.23 
  • Note: Unique identifier could be the project name, internal project number, or any other identifier used to describe the input data. Outside of client name, unique identifier, and date that the file was added to delivery location, you can add any additional naming conventions as needed to the file name.

    5. Transfer the data input file to the delivery location and email your assigned PM with the below information:

  • For the email subject line, include your business name and the project name
  • In the body of the email, include the data input file name and quantity of records in the file
  • If using Experian Secure Transport, attach the ST file transfer email notification that you received to this email as well

     6. Experian will perform collaboration as detailed in the contract, which may include address hygiene on PII and resolution of digital identifiers.

     7. Your PM will provide initial match results of the collaboration for you to review and provide approval before moving forward.

     8. Experian will format the output data file(s) based on the guidelines in this article below.

     9. Experian will transfer the data output file to the delivery location.

Standard delivery locations & cadence

These are the standard delivery locations that we support for you to send and receive Experian data inputs and outputs.

  • Experian Secure Transport (aka Client SFTP, STS)  
  • Amazon (AWS) S3  
  • Google Cloud Platform (GCP *)
  • Snowflake*

*Disclaimer: Data ingestion from and delivery of the collaboration output to Snowflake and Google Cloud have an extended set up time of 3-4 weeks. If the data is needed sooner, we can ingest the input data or deliver the first collaboration output via one of the other delivery locations, like sFTP or S3.

These are the standard delivery cadences that we support for you to send Experian data inputs for resolution.

  • Monthly 
  • Quarterly

  • Annually

Data inputs

Quickly jump to an ID section using these links:

Standard data input file details

  • U.S. records only
  • Record count <300MM per partner
  • Delimiter = Pipe (|)  

Standard data inputs for resolution

Experian supports collaboration between two client/partners files at the individual or household levels by resolving offline and digital identifier data to an Experian ID. This resolution process then enables collaboration and sharing of payload data. 

  • Experian ID (Experian LUID or PID) *Preferred ID* 
  • Experian LUID is a unique identifier assigned to one or more persons living at an address as a group or family unit. The Living Unit ID will remain consistent for those persons in the group or family as long as they remain together as a unit.
  • Experian PID is a unique identifier assigned to every person. ID remains consistent but does change based on update logic.
  • Personally identifiable information (PII: name, postal address, and email and phone in the raw) 
  • Mobile ad ID (MAID)
  • Hashed email (HEM)
  • Hashed phone number
  • IP address (IP)

These IDs can be sent separately or in combination.  

If you do not already have an Experian LUID or PID, you will send Experian the other supported IDs and we will resolve back to a LUID to enable collaboration. 

Experian ID *Preferred input ID*

Often with collaboration, we already have an Experian LUID or PID in place with you. In this case, Experian already has the information required to enable the collaboration so no additional inputs will need to be sent. 

Field name Field description Field Formatting
Experian ID sample: 3012345678 Experian LUID or PID A client or partner specific Experian ID assigned to each record.

PII

We can accept PII from you and your partners to resolve to an Experian LUID. This resolution process then enables collaboration and sharing of payload data. Experian accepts:

  • Postal address 

  • Name

  • Email in the raw 

  • Phone number in the raw

Delivery Standards

The customer record ID is a required field and then you would send accompanying PII fields that have been determined previously. Data fields should be formatted based on standards below.

Field name Field description Field formatting
Unique_seq   Customer record ID  *Required field* A sequence number unique to each record on the file used for post-collaboration matchback.  Client Account Number could be utilized if unique across the file. 
prefix   Name Prefix  
 1 to 15 characters (truncates after 15) such as “Ms.”
fname    First Name   1 to 20 characters (truncates after 20)   
mname   Middle Name    1 to 20 characters (truncates after 20)  
lname    Last Name   Address Standardization allows up to 30 characters   
suffix   Name Suffix    1 to 15 characters (truncates after 15) such as “Jr”   
fullname    Full Name   1 to 40 characters (truncates after 40)   
addr1   Address Line 1    1 - 30 (truncates after 30) Address   
addr2    Address Line 2   1 - 30 (truncates after 30) Address    
addr3   Address Line 3    1 - 30 (truncates after 30)  
city    City   1 to 40 characters (truncates after 40)   
state   State    2 alphabetic characters for most services  
zip    ZIP Code   4 or 5 numbers (if 4 numbers, then assume a leading zero)   
email   Email in the raw  50 with '@' and '.' within string  
phone   Phone number in the raw 10 numbers  

Sample data input file with PII

Unique_seq
 fname lname addr1  city state zip email  phone
00458480 Mike  Evans 123 Main  Chicago IL  60193 mike@att.net  8476531234
00371889  Bob Hoff  377 Eagle Ave Denver  CO 80026  bob@gmail.com 3031235687 
03a5978 Hank   Orr 789 Main St  Costa Mesa CA  92614 hank@aol.coc  7149893388

MAID

We can accept MAIDs from you and your partners to resolve to an Experian LUID. This resolution process then enables collaboration and sharing of payload data. Experian accepts:

  • Raw MAID
  • SHA1 MAID
  • SHA256 MAID
  • MD5 MAID
  • Across apple or Android (Google)

Delivery standards

The customer record ID is a required field and then you would send accompanying fields that have been determined previously. Data fields should be formatted based on standards below.

Field name Field description Field formatting
Unique_seq  

Customer record ID 

*Required field*

 A sequence number unique to each record on the file used for post-collaboration matchback.  Client Account Number could be utilized if unique across the file. 
maid   MAID Raw MAID (36 bytes)  
md5_maid   md5 MAID  This is the MAID hashed using md5  
sha1_maid   sha1 MAID
 This is the MAID hashed using sha1  
sha256_maid  sha256 MAID This is the MAID hashed using sha256  

Sample data input file with MAIDs

Unique_seq maid
00458480 67dfdbe7-acdb-4177-b885-3f49f6782eb4      
00371889 7452903A-E184-4846-A378-69E15ACBD11D      
03a5978 8200A84D-EF54-4DF5-9A48-3A937C02E71F     

HEM

We can accept HEMs from you and your partners to resolve to an Experian LUID. This resolution process then enables collaboration and sharing of payload data. Experian accepts:

  • SHA1 HEM 

  • SHA256 HEM

  • MD5 HEM 

Note: If you are looking to send email in the raw, that is considered PII.

 

Delivery standards

The customer record ID is a required field and then you would send accompanying fields that have been determined previously. Data fields should be formatted based on standards below.

Field name Field description Field formatting
Unique_seq  

Customer record ID 

*Required field*

 A sequence number unique to each record on the file used for post-collaboration matchback.  Client Account Number could be utilized if unique across the file. 
md5email md5 Email Address   This is the email address hashed using md5 lower case and trimmed prior to hash  
sha1email sha256 Email Address This is the email address hashed using sha1 lower case and trimmed prior to hash  
sha256email sha256 Email Address   This is the email address hashed using sha256 lower case and trimmed prior to hash  

Sample data input file with HEMs

Unique_seq sha1email
00458480 71581ddec6248362dc418157c1773c967c7bfb7f
00371889 9736c9f074c812b4fad888453d782506f22aa5a8
03a5978 92c3575f4be087b8872c0d84360754f2751179c3

Hashed phone number

We can accept hashed phone number from you and your partners to resolve to an Experian LUID. This resolution process then enables collaboration and sharing of payload data. Experian accepts:

  • SHA1 phone 

  • SHA256 phone

  • MD5 phone 

Note: If you are looking to send phone number in the raw, that is considered PII.

Delivery standards

The customer record ID is a required field and then you would send accompanying PII fields that have been determined previously. Data fields should be formatted based on standards below.

Field name Field description Field formatting
Unique_seq  

Customer record ID 

*Required field*

 A sequence number unique to each record on the file used for post-collaboration matchback.  Client Account Number could be utilized if unique across the file. 
md5phone   md5 Phone Number      This is the phone number hashed using md5  
sha1phone   sha1 Phone Number   This is the phone number hashed using sha1  
sha256phone  sha256 Phone Number   This is the phone number hashed using sha256   

Sample data input file with hashed phone number

Unique_seq sha1PhoneNumber
00458480 82581fdec6348372dc428157d1723c957c7cfb7f
00371889 5736c3f064c872b4cad889453e782536f22ba5a8
03a5978 32b3545f2aa083b8842c0b84460764f2751179c3

IP

We can accept IPs from you and your partners to resolve to an Experian LUID. This resolution process then enables collaboration and sharing of payload data. Experian accepts:

  • Raw IPV4 

  • Raw IPV6

  • SHA1 IP 

  • SHA256 IP

  • MD5 IP 

Delivery standards

The customer record ID is a required field and then you would send accompanying fields that have been determined previously. Data fields should be formatted based on standards below.

Field name Field description Field formatting
Unique_seq

Customer record ID

*Required field*

 A sequence number unique to each record on the file used for post-collaboration matchback.  Client Account Number could be utilized if unique across the file. 
ip_address IP Address  Raw IPv4 or IPv6 
sha1_ip   sha1 IP   This is the IP hashed using sha1  
sha256_ip   sha256 IP   This is the IP hashed using sha256  
md5_ip   md5 IP   This is the IP hashed using md5  
ip_start_date IP Address Start Date   Client defined first seen activity date for  IP. format: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DD %  
ip_end_date   IP Address End Date   Client defined last seen activity date for IP. format: YYYY-MM-DD or YYYY-MM-DD %  
ip_state_code IP Address State Code   Two byte state abbreviation  

Sample data input file with IPs

Unique_seq ip_address
00458480 216.59.183.63
00371889 24.11.50.221  
03a5978 24.18.184.226

Standard data input for collaboration

Experian supports collaboration between two parties and allows them to share payload data.

Sample data input file with collaboration data

Unique_seq maid Purchase_date Purchase_dollar
00458480 67dfdbe7-acdb-4177-b885-3f49f6782eb4 20230801 85
00371889 7452903A-E184-4846-A378-69E15ACBD11D 20230813 114
03a5978 8200A84D-EF54-4DF5-9A48-3A937C02E71F 20230906 52

Data outputs

Standard data outputs for collaboration

Collaboration at Experian Output File

Experian will deliver the collaboration output file to the client or partner in the delivery location previously determined. Only one party will be receiving an output file from Experian.

Delivery Standards

Field name  Field description    Field formatting  
Unique_seq   Customer record ID  A sequence number unique to each record on the file used for post-collaboration matchback.  Client Account Number could be utilized if unique across the file. 
The file will include the data outputs of the collaboration as specified in the contract. This is the payload data (e.g. purchase date and purchase dollar).

Sample data outputs file for Collaboration at Experian

Unique_seq
 Purchase_date  Purchase_dollar
00458480  20230801 85 
00371889 20230813  114
03a5978  20230906 52 

Note: Purchase data and purchase dollar are examples of the types of payload data that could be shared, these are not standard fields on output files.