Getting started with the Sunshine platform for admins (legacy custom objects)

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<div class="note important">
<span class="importanttitle">Important:</span> A new custom object experience is
available. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5914453843994" target="_blank">Understanding the new custom objects</a>.<p class="p">If you're using
legacy custom objects, you will continue to have access to your objects,
records, and relationships. All resources to aid in your continued use of legacy
custom objects have been labeled as "legacy." Custom object documentation
without the "legacy" label applies only to the new custom object
experience.</p>
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<p class="p">The Zendesk Sunshine platform lets you connect and understand all your customer data
wherever it lives. The Sunshine data layer isn't associated with one Zendesk product,
but you can model relationships to certain native objects like tickets and users. </p>
<p class="p">The Sunshine platform currently consists of three resources: events, profiles, and legacy
custom objects. Each can be accessed with <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/api-reference/custom-data/introduction/" target="_blank">APIs</a>.</p>
<p class="p">You can also interact with these resources in Admin Center. There you can see the
available Sunshine data types and configure how the data is displayed natively to your
agents in the <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829170458" target="_blank">customer context</a> interface. By exposing
Sunshine data in the customer context interface, your agents can work more efficiently
and provide a better customer experience. </p>
<p class="p">As an administrator, it's important to understand how the data from these resources is
related, so this article introduces concepts and highlights key relationships.</p>
<div class="p">This article contains the following sections:<ul class="ul" id="ac_sunshine_ux_get_started__ul_cbh_4b5_vnb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_x2f_kg1_wnb">Creating a single view of the customer</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_hks_pfb_wnb">Using legacy custom data objects
to understand your customers</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_wcz_pfb_wnb">Putting it all
together</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="#topic_pm4_htz_vnb">Enabling access to Sunshine</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_x2f_kg1_wnb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">Creating a single view of the customer</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Sunshine profiles and events are powerful ways to unify data about your customer and
their actions across applications and systems into a single view. Used together,
Sunshine profiles and events can provide a more complete picture of each customer's
journey with your organization.</p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested2" id="topic_dv1_vjk_xnb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title3">Profiles</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Sunshine profiles act like name tags for a person in different applications, and
they all tie back to individual users in Zendesk. This way, information about
who the customer is and what they're doing in other applications is associated
with a Zendesk user.</p>
<p class="p">From Admin Center, you can see all of the Sunshine profiles for your account. You
can also configure which of those custom profiles are visible in the customer
context interface.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_dv1_vjk_xnb__image_ywk_czy_znb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/profile_types.png" width="500"></p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested2" id="topic_scq_vjk_xnb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title4">Events</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Sunshine events increase visibility into the actions of your customers in many
sources. Any event that can be tracked, such as purchase transactions, website
visits, or customer service interactions, can be a Sunshine event. There are two
categories of Sunshine events: Zendesk events and custom events. </p>
<p class="p">With native Zendesk events, data flows from Zendesk products into Sunshine
events. Zendesk event data includes user profiles and certain interaction events
from Support, Guide, and Talk, such as the titles of Help Center articles a
customer viewed recently. They're a great way to get started with Sunshine data
without needing assistance from a developer on your team. After you enable
Zendesk events, they will become visible in Admin Center under the <strong class="ph b">Zendesk
events</strong> tab as each event type occurs.</p>
<p class="p">With custom events, you can build a timeline of your customers' interactions from
any other source. You'll see all of the Sunshine custom events for your account
in Admin Center under the <strong class="ph b">Custom events</strong> as soon as you enable the API and
a developer in your organization connects it to external applications. </p>
<p class="p">Every event is associated with a Sunshine profile, which means each event is also
associated with a Zendesk user. Because of this association, you can use Admin
Center to configure relevant Zendesk and custom events to be displayed in the
customer context interface.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_scq_vjk_xnb__image_xrs_l1z_xnb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/zendesk_event_types.png" width="500"></p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested2" id="topic_bbj_fl3_wnb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title5">Learn more about Sunshine profiles and events</h3>
<div class="body">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_bbj_fl3_wnb__ul_p2s_kl3_wnb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408828663322" target="_blank">Adding Sunshine user profiles and events
to customer context in a ticket</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408829170458-#topic_q5j_kpz_vkb" target="_blank">Viewing additional profiles and events in
customer context</a></li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/ticketing/profiles/getting-started-with-profiles/" target="_blank">Getting started with profiles</a> (for
developers)</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/ticketing/events/getting-started-with-events/" target="_blank">Getting started with events</a> (for
developers)</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_hks_pfb_wnb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Using legacy custom objects to understand your customers</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">In addition to the many types of native Zendesk data objects, such as tickets and
users, you can use Sunshine custom objects to store and surface data objects from
any source. Custom objects can be just about anything, including a product, a
service contract, or a customer visit. You can create custom objects in Admin Center
or with the Custom Objects API, then use your custom objects and relationships to
tailor your Zendesk account to fit your business needs. </p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested2" id="topic_vzj_k3p_wnb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title7">Legacy custom objects and records</h3>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">In Admin Center, you can create a blueprint for new legacy object types in
Zendesk and control access to each object by setting role-based permissions.
Then developers on your team can use the Custom Objects API to create, read,
update, and delete object records. Object records are instances of the legacy
custom object.</p>
<p class="p">Because the blueprint, or <em class="ph i">schema</em>, you define for each legacy custom object
directly relates to the data and how it is stored in the database, it's
important to model your data carefully. Custom objects support several different
relationship models between object types: one-to-one, one-to-many, and
many-to-many. See <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834725402#topic_awf_m1m_mjb" target="_blank">Modeling your data</a>.</p>
<p class="p">The following video provides an overview of custom objects in Admin Center:</p>
<p class="p"></p>
<div class="non-responsive"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" class="iframe embed-responsive-item" controls="controls" height="225" src="https://fast.wistia.net/embed/iframe/yqaef2l3od" width="400"></iframe></div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested2" id="topic_gmw_k3p_wnb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title8">Legacy object relationships</h3>
<div class="body">
<div class="p">A relationship type is a blueprint for creating relationship records between two
specific object types. A relationship type describes objects relative to each
other. You can define relationships between:<ul class="ul" id="topic_gmw_k3p_wnb__ul_lgp_jjp_wnb">
<li class="li">two legacy custom object types</li>
<li class="li">one legacy custom object type and certain Zendesk object types</li>
<li class="li">two Zendesk object types</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p class="p">It's important to understand that defining a relationship type doesn't create an
association between two specific records. Rather, it describes the
relationship.</p>
<p class="p">In Admin Center, you can create relationship types and control access to each
relationship by setting role-based permissions. After you define your
relationship type, developers on your team can create relationship records
(instances of the relationship) to associate two object records.</p>
<p class="p"><img class="image img-screenshot" id="topic_gmw_k3p_wnb__image_rw4_bjq_wqb" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/custom_object_new_relationship.png" width="500"></p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title9" class="topic nested2" id="topic_ddd_l3p_wnb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title9">Learn more about legacy custom objects and relationships</h3>
<div class="body">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_ddd_l3p_wnb__ul_rf4_m3p_wnb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408834725402" target="_blank">Sunshine custom objects guide for
admins</a></li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/custom-data/custom-objects/getting-started-with-custom-objects" target="_blank">Getting started with Sunshine custom
objects</a> (for developers)</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title10" class="topic nested1" id="topic_wcz_pfb_wnb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title10">Putting it all together</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">Individually, Sunshine events, profiles, and legacy custom objects each offer better
insight into your customers and their relationship to your organization. Events and
profiles are always oriented around users. When custom events, profiles, and objects
are used together, you can start to see a complete picture of the customer in a
single view. This enables you to break down knowledge silos, solve real-world
problems, and increase efficiency. </p>
<p class="p">In addition to exposing some of the Sunshine data in the customer context interface
to improve your agents' ability to help your customers, you can also <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824421146" target="_blank">use Zendesk Marketplace apps</a> or <a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/apps" target="_blank">create
your own Zendesk app</a> to extend Zendesk Support and use more of your
Sunshine data. </p>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title11" class="topic nested2" id="topic_apl_k31_ynb">
<h3 class="title topictitle3" id="ariaid-title11">Learn more about Zendesk apps</h3>
<div class="body">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_apl_k31_ynb__ul_jh3_m31_ynb">
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408824421146" target="_blank">Using the Zendesk Marketplace</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/apps/" target="_blank">Zendesk apps documentation</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/ticketing/profiles/accessing-profiles-in-zendesk-apps/" target="_blank">Accessing profiles in Zendesk
apps</a></li>
<li class="li"><a class="xref" href="https://developer.zendesk.com/documentation/ticketing/events/accessing-events-in-zendesk-apps/" target="_blank">Accessing events in Zendesk
apps</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title12" class="topic nested1" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title12">Enabling access to Sunshine</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">You'll need access to a Zendesk Suite plan. You must also activate the Sunshine
platform APIs for the account before you'll be able to see data from the resources
in Admin Center and customer context interface.</p>
<div class="p">
<strong class="ph b">To enable Sunshine Zendesk events</strong><ol class="ol" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__ol_cmp_w21_wnb">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__d7e642" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_people_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">People</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Configuration &gt; Event setup</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">To include Zendesk event data, click <strong class="ph b">Sunshine features</strong>, then select
<strong class="ph b">Zendesk events</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Save</strong> your
changes.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To enable Sunshine custom
events</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__ol_ngh_hvr_znb">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__d7e627" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_people_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">People</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Configuration &gt; Events</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">To
enable
data coming from
Events
API, click <strong class="ph b">Get
started</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Save</strong> your changes.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To enable Sunshine profiles</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__ol_xdg_yjq_wqb">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__d7e657" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_people_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">People</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Configuration &gt; Profiles</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Enable data coming from the Profiles API, click <strong class="ph b">Get started</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Save</strong> your changes.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p class="p"><strong class="ph b">To enable legacy
custom
objects</strong></p>
<div class="p">
<ol class="ol" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__ol_xgg_jkq_wqb">
<li class="li"><span class="ph">In <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4581766374554#topic_hfg_dyz_1hb" target="_blank">Admin Center</a>, click <img class="image" id="topic_pm4_htz_vnb__d7e1295" src="https://zen-marketing-documentation.s3.amazonaws.com/docs/en/ac_objects_rules_icon.png">
<strong class="ph b">Objects and rules</strong> in the sidebar, then select <strong class="ph b">Custom objects &gt; Legacy
objects</strong>.</span></li>
<li class="li">Enable data coming from the Custom Objects API, click <strong class="ph b">Get
started</strong>.</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Save</strong> your changes.</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
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