A Data Source in Creative Force automates job creation and product updates by connecting to external data locations. Once set up, Creative Force scans your designated location at scheduled intervals– and communicates the data to your Productions.

Having a Data Source eliminates manual data imports, making it ideal for brands and studios working with consistent product data from PIMs or other product management systems.

Getting Started

Before getting started, it's important to understand what a Data Source is and how it works. For more information on this, you can review our related article below.

What is a Data Source?

Enable Connector

Setting up specific connectors as a Data Source requires first enabling the connector.

For instructions on this step, please see our related article below.

Connectors Overview

Add New Data Source

To add a new Delivery Location, go to Studio Settings → Data Sources → Select ‘Add.'

Connection Settings

General Configurations

In the resulting slide-in menu, you will find a number of configuration options for setting up the Data Source. The fields in the table below are general configuration options and apply to many Data Source types.

Connection Option	Function
Name	Type a recognizable name for your Data Source.
Method	Choose the desired platform, service, or connector from the dropdown. This will change the available configuration options depending on the selection. For details on connector-specific configuration options, see the next section.
File Type	Select from the supported options below CSV JSON XML
CSV Delimiter	Set a character that Creative Force will recognize to separate data fields within a file. Comma Semicolon Tab Character Other
Time Zone	Set the time zone that the Data Source should operate under.
Schedule	Set a regular interval that Creative Force should check for and update new data. See Notes
Allow Delta Update	Delta files are files that contain only the changes since the last file upload. See Notes

Schedule Notes

Schedule Option	Notes
Frequency	Select from Hourly Daily Weekly Monthly
Day of Week/Month	If 'Frequency' is set to Monthly or Weekly, you will need to specify the specific day/week in this field.
Hour in Day	The hour in the day when data should be synced.
Minute in Hour	The minute in the hour when data should be synced.

⚠️ Important: Schedule is set in UTC, despite the Time Zone otherwise set.

Delta Update Notes

Delta Files can be used to Add Products, Update Products, Delete Products, and Deactivate/Activate Products.

Delete/Deactivate Products

To delete or deactivate products via Delta Files, the original file must have the corresponding columns 'isDeleted' and 'isDeactivated'.
- The value of the column must be '1' to confirm the row should be deactivated/deleted in Creative Force.

Delta File Name

Each delta file must have the same file name as the original file, and follow the additional format rules:

original filename + _ + a growing consecutive number

eg, If the original file is DataSource.csv, the first delta file would be DataSource_1.csv, then DataSource_2.csv

Delta File Requirements

⚠️ Important:

Each Delta File should not be larger than 50 MB.
There is a maximum limitation of 10,000 Delta Files.
The Delta File must have the same columns as the original file.
CF only supports encoding UTF-8. If your data is something else (eg, Latin encoding), the data will not be displayed properly in Gamma

Date Formats

Creative Force follows the below priority when ingesting date-type data from Data Source files.

See List

"MM'-'dd'-'yyyy",
"MM'/'dd'/'yyyy",
"MM' 'dd' 'yyyy",
"dd'.'MM'.'yyyy",
"MM'.'dd'.'yyyy",
"dd'-'MM'-'yyyy",
"dd'/'MM'/'yyyy",
"dd' 'MM' 'yyyy",
"yyyy'-'MM'-'dd",
"yyyy'/'MM'/'dd",
"yyyy' 'MM' 'dd",
"yyyy'.'MM'.'dd",
"yyyy'-'dd'-'MM",
"yyyy'/'dd'/'MM",
"yyyy' 'dd' 'MM",
"yyyy'.'dd'.'MM"

Connector Specific Configurations

In addition to the above general configuration options, certain connectors have a number of unique options available to better specify how you would like them to function.

Information on those configuration options can be found on the specific connector's overview page in its corresponding 'Data Source' section.

The table below will provide quick access to those pages:

	Connector	Specific Setup
	Airtable	Visit Connector
	Akeneo	Visit Connector
	Amazon S3	Visit Connector
	Brandquad	Visit Connector
	FTP/SFTP	Visit Connector
	Shopify	Visit Connector

Post-Set Up

After successfully adding your Data Source, you will be brought back to your list of Data Sources in the Studio Settings.

You should see the 'Last Check' status read 'Waiting to Map.'

Mapping

To get started mapping your Data Source fields to Creative Force properties, hover over the newly added Data Source → Select 'Actions' → Then, 'Mapping Column.'

The pop-up menu will show a list of two columns. On the left, 'File Column,' and on the right, 'Data Property.'

The File Column list should populate all retrievable columns from your Data Source file. The Data Property list will contain drop-downs where you can select from Creative Force property values.

The system will automatically attempt to choose values for the Data Property that are an exact match by name. You are free to use the drop-down to change any pre-selected values and replace them as you see fit.

After selecting 'Save,' you will be brought back to the Data Source list once more, where 'Last Check' should now update to reflect 'Syncing.'

📝 Note: Once the status has changed to 'Syncing,' you will need to refresh the page or navigate elsewhere and back in to check that syncing has been completed.

Once Syncing has completed, it should show 'Data Ready.'

Add to Workspace

With your Data Source now configured, mapped, and ready for data, you can add it to a Workspace to start syncing Product Data.

Head to Studio Settings → Workspaces → 'Edit' Workspace → Data Source

You will notice two additional configuration toggles below the drop-down when selecting your Data Source. These settings help you dictate how you would like to maintain data synchronization between your Data Source and Creative Force.

Configuration Option	Function
Keep Imported Products & Samples Updated	Enables automatic updates from the Data Source. With this function disabled, data will only be brought in once on import. Further changes to values will not be reflected in Creative Force.
Add Additional Samples when Updating	When updating from the Data Source, additional samples that are not already added to the system will be imported as additional Samples.

Syncing Status

When checking in on your Data Sources in the Studio Settings, you may encounter a number of status messages for the 'Last Check' and 'Last Success' fields.

You can review the table below to see common statuses and how to interpret them.

Status Message	Description
Wait for First Sync	No scheduled sync has successfully triggered yet.
Waiting to Map	The columns have not been mapped. After these have been mapped, the sync can start.
Data Ready	After successfully syncing for the first time, the status will show Data ready.
Syncing	Creative Force is in the process of syncing the data.
Cannot Connect	Creative Force cannot connect to the Data source. Please review your connection credentials or contact Creative Force Support.
No New Delta File	A scheduled sync was completed, but there was no new Delta File found from the last sync.
File Not Found	A scheduled sync was completed, but the expected file was not found in the path as expected.

When hovering over the status, you can also see more information on specific errors, the exact time of last sync, and which Delta File was last synced, if applicable.