LiveRamp Local Encoder

Deconfliction is needed for analytics use cases and works best against universe datasets, meaning the full customer view across CRM-based data, subscriber data, or transaction data. These are typically large datasets, and because of the number of different touchpoints included (address, email, phone) and the sharing of touchpoints among consumers, one record in your dataset might match to some RampIDs in the LiveRamp Identity Graph that are also connected to other consumers (such as family members or relatives). This creates identity conflicts because some of these RampIDs might match to other records in your systems. These conflicts are the inevitable result of the sharing of devices, the use of multiple email addresses (and the sharing of email addresses), and other similar consumer behavior.

For certain use cases, you might want to include as many RampIDs as possible to maximize match and reach, and for these, deconfliction is not recommended. However, for other use cases, such as measurement, you might want to minimize noise across first-party datasets and the deconfliction configuration enables tuning of the outputs to maximize accuracy and fit the LiveRamp graph to your universe. This can be particularly useful for large datasets where overconnected RampIDs can introduce noise into analytics. Some use cases that benefit from this configuration are closed loop measurement, reach and frequency, or mutually exclusive segments as examples.

Using deconfliction on large universe datasets can help match your records to the RampIDs that are determined to be the most relevant for each record by looking at the strength of the connection of each RampID to each touchpoint. It includes references to how active the linkage is in the digital ecosystem.

To utilize deconfliction, you’ll need to provide a RID (Record ID) for each record, and for the configuration to drive the highest value, the full universe is required to deconflict across the table. The output you receive will include the best fidelity RampIDs for each RID.

There are two deconfliction options you can choose from:

To learn more about deconfliction or to have deconfliction enabled for your account, contact your LiveRamp representative.

If you’re using Local Encoder to generate identity envelopes, you can integrate Local Encoder with our ATS Direct and Google PAIR programs. This allows you to use Local Encoder to add the associated ID for these programs into the prebid module.

To find out about enabling these integrations, contact your LiveRamp representative.

If you’re using Local Encoder to obtain identity envelopes, you’ll need to refresh those envelopes periodically, An envelope is valid for 15 days from the date of creation. 

A timestamp column is appended to the end of each row. This column gives the expiration date and time for the identity envelope in Unix format (timezone UTC). You can use this timestamp column to determine when you need to refresh the envelope.

You can refresh envelopes by calling the Refreshing Envelopes endpoint of the ATS API (for more information, see “Authenticated Traffic Solution API Documentation”).

See the header shown below for an example of what the header might look like when sending data in a pipe-separated file (psv) for an Activation use case, where segment data fields are included:

RID|EMAIL1|EMAIL2|EMAIL3|SHA256EMAIL1|SHA256EMAIL2|SHA256EMAIL3|MOBILE1|MOBILE2|SHA256MOBILE1|SHA256MOBILE2|LANDLINE1|SHA256LANDLINE1|FIRSTNAME|LASTNAME|POSTCODE|AAID|IDFA|IMEI|ATTRIBUTE_1|...|ATTRIBUTE_N

Replace ATTRIBUTE_1 … N in the example header with the name of your CRM attributes.

RampIDs are LiveRamp’s proprietary, pseudonymous identifiers for representing individuals. RampID creation involves hashing, salting, and private key encryption in order to prevent consumer data from being re-identified. RampIDs are unique per each LiveRamp client and have a partner-specific encoding.

RampIDs form the basis for using the LiveRamp product. Once your data has been converted to RampIDs, you are able to use the LiveRamp platform for collaboration, activation, and measurement activities.

For RampID output, all consumer identifier data in a row is transformed into derived RampIDs in the form of a JSON string in a “RampID” column:

See below for an example of an output file for RampID output, based on the input file shown below:

RID|EMAIL1|MOBILE1
123|solomon@mac.com|(629) 555-1536
456|maratb@gmail.com|(365) 555-0786

The output file will follow the format shown below:

RID|RampID

The JSON string might look like the example below:

RID, [
  {
    "header": "EMAIL1",
    "RampID": {
      "MD5": "Xi2247b9-ap-AcsWdsKFquY8vUnNig7fYQC-zkiqN9MKJQLvXaq_dppPrOiQBIy8PUYN2h",
      "SHA1": "Xi2247LbvDme7s-hRJXnG1NXe6CwFpRlNC60vFHOOpQXROEBiSF0LZYmdGYcbMcechi_iL",
      "SHA256": "Xi2247FbP--uJe0dFhLUrVD1MOTO6Iuncg5XbBOrR3MFywWgJMP9gzt2pdnVfCWQiUo-d_"
    }
  },
  {
    "header": "MOBILE1",
    "RampID": {
      "NONE": "Xi2247zPBI2V6OAVfpzBWhKy3ay8WJ66flt_1_hDYr0-y3mcf1HHDt2ZgRTyvhWxqp08Y0"
    }
  }
]

For Activation use cases, Local Encoder can generate RampID packets by bundling individual RampIDs for a given consumer record and then adding an additional layer of encryption that involves a randomly-generated code. The randomly-generated code provides an added layer of protection, ensuring that the same client record (with the same RampID) will produce a packet which looks different every time the application runs.

The packets produced by the application are sent to LiveRamp, where they are unpacked and the included RampIDs are loaded into the client’s LiveRamp account.

For RampID packet output, all consumer identifier data in a row is transformed into derived RampIDs, packaged into one data structure and encrypted again, yielding a RampID packet.

See below for an example of an output file for RampID packet output, based on the input file shown below:

RID|EMAIL1|MOBILE1|FIRSTNAME|LASTNAME|POSTCODE|DOG_OWNER|NUM_DOGS
123|solomon@mac.com|(629) 555-1536|Solomon|Gumbel|10012|true|3
456|maratb@gmail.com|(365) 555-0786|Marta|Baldwin|94602|false|0

The output file will follow the format shown below:

RID|RampID_PACKET|DOG_OWNER|NUM_DOGS
123|dVd8HezBpkyxiOpiUwh1+iYBBRx+RrBMM02rnvDoZT8i=|true|3
456|Tt16SRP6Svrnc2CQPrnHsLEcDR+WWLscjWdYmY2JR5h=|false|0

Identity envelopes are typically utilized by publishers and platforms who want to get RampIDs into the bidstream to safely engage with the programmatic advertising ecosystem or who want to enable brands and marketers using LiveRamp to distribute RampID-based data for improved targeting.

An identity envelope is an opaque and encrypted structure containing RampIDs and metadata. Each envelope is created with a client-specific encryption key that makes it unique. An envelope is valid for 15 days from the date of creation (the output file contains the expiration date and time for each envelope).

For identity envelope output, all consumer identifier data is transformed into derived RampIDs. A selection logic is applied, and then the RampID is additionally obfuscated and encrypted into an identity envelope. Only one identity envelope is returned per row of data.

A timestamp column is appended to the end of each row. This column gives the expiration date and time for the identity envelope in Unix format (timezone UTC). You can use this timestamp column to determine when you need to refresh the envelope.

An envelope is represented as a Base64-encoded string.

Identity envelope string example:

AY3SYJlFDI1RqsMv9gZOjOab6hGuwWKmbE4K70Z-Zex27DD6M9U0Jg

The string is different each time an envelope is created for the same underlying data as a result of randomization.

Envelopes can be decrypted using the Envelope Decryption API or by SSPs running the Sidecar application.

See below for an example of an output file for identity envelope output, based on the input file shown below:

RID|EMAIL1|MOBILE1
123|solomon@mac.com|(629) 555-1536
456|maratb@gmail.com|(365) 555-0786

The output file will follow the format shown below:

RID|ENVELOPE|TIMESTAMP
123|AY3SYJlFDI1RqsMv9gZOjOab6hGuwWKmbE4K70Z-Zex27DD6M9U0Jg|1701715163
456|ApKVQQBzOR41WDJQoK_iWEaJNsvVUcOHgOWEwB_SzNSRvHPNegb8-EpxIu3G-1ikxzGUwJZQcHOZLsZLySU|1701715163