AbiliTec Identifiers

AbiliTec Document ID Terminology

Regardless of the domain or realm, the new terms are Document ID and Computed Document ID.

  • Document ID - an alphanumeric string that uniquely identifies a document that exists in the AbiliTec Datagraph.
  • Computed Document ID - an algorithmically calculated document ID based on the entire string of client input data. You must provide the exact same input data to receive the same Computed Document ID. Therefore, if one or more characters of a standardized data element differ from the characters of another record, or if the information parses differently, AbiliTec could produce a different Computed Document ID.

The domain and realm for a document ID can be determined by looking at the first six bytes. The first four are the domain and the next two indicate the realm.

New AbiliTec Document IDs

Every document in the Acxiom Datagraph has a unique identifier called a document ID.

A new document ID format has been created and will serve as the next generation of AbiliTec IDs (and are referred to as AbiliTec Document IDs). These new identifiers allow us to more seamlessly support a wider variety of use cases. The 16-byte AbiliTec links will continue to be available, but as adoption of the new document ID format grows the 16-byte links will eventually be phased out. The format of the AbiliTec links will not change.

Usage Specifications
IdentifierDescription
UniqueThe identifier is used as a unique key that can be returned from and passed to the AbiliTec service.
Identity Resolution

The identifier itself contains all the information required for identity resolution. At a basic level this means:

If a client makes requests with two distinct entity representations, and AbiliTec considers that each request represents the same entity, then the same applicable document ID for each request will be returned.

To check for equivalency, a user should compare an entire document ID string to another document ID string, and only if they are completely identical are they considered equivalent.

No Document or Request Information

The identifier contains all of the information needed to facilitate a document lookup or to perform identity resolution. As an identifier, it neither needs nor contains any of the following:

  • document class
  • bundle information
  • attribute values from the document
  • request parameter values
  • anything specific about the type of request that returned the document ID

Note: This includes replicating any information in the document, computed information in the document, metadata about the match, etc.

Global UsageThe identifier is international and can support our international systems.
Client PrivacyWhen the identifier is returned to the client it masks the underlying internal value of the identifier. A Client Domain Document ID will have a different value for each client even if the underlying Acxiom Domain Document ID is the same. This aids client privacy and reduces the probability of collusion.
Computed DocumentsThese computed document IDs have significantly lower probability of collusions vs current derived AbiliTec links.
Formats
Format Specifications
FormatDescription
Base64The document ID is returned in url safe base64. URL safe base64 is a subset of base64 with the characters '-' and '_' in positions 62 and 63 respectively.
LengthThe length of the document ID is variable. The current max length is 38 bytes.
Domain EncodingThe value will be encoded uniquely for each domain/realm combination.
Components

The new document ID format has 5 components:

ComponentDescription
DomainRepresents the tenant/client domain.
Realm

The realm is the environment in which the document ID is used in, for instance known and anonymous. See the Realm table below for more details.

Each tenant is associated with a unique domain and realm combination. This combination defines a key space used to encode document IDs uniquely. The domain and realm combination is also referred to as the extended domain.

Country Code

Represents the country associated with this document ID. See the Country Code table below for more details. A country code of ZZ is assigned for Computed Document IDs.

The country code does not indicate the location of the physical repository the document was retrieved from, but rather the country specific instance of the service. Document IDs of multiple countries can be stored within a single physical repository.

ReservedReserved for future use.
ValueThis field uniquely identifies the entity in the Acxiom Data Graph.
Country Codes
Country CodeDescription
AA - ZYUppercase two-character ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code representing the primary country that is related to the service instance which returned the document ID.
ZZComputed Document ID classification.
<remaining codes><Reserved>
Realms
RealmDescription
00Known/marketing universe document ID.
01Anonymous universe document ID.
<remaining codes><Reserved>

Terminology and Examples

TermExample
Document ID003Y00US00_yo6iQsYeCWVo0rfRsrpPtte1Eo4
Computed Document ID003Y00ZZ00XiSeV7_PXovqDxrfjrTTwyn2X6Jj
Anonymous Document ID003Y01US00ySyxMI2h0ypHBXEymO2-1wl1vYkw
Anonymous Computed Document ID003Y01ZZ00w_hGHN59rvDz_zcbQzAelqwKRLZV