Automation Studio – Entry Sources

2.1 Types of Entry (Starting) Sources

This video provides an overview of the Starting Sources in Automation Studio workflows

2.2 File Location Configuration

Explore how to configure File Locations for using within Automation Studio. Various file locations that would be usually required:

• Import Folder – where you can place files to be imported into Marketing Cloud Data Extensions
• Export Folder – where outbound files from Marketing Cloud can be placed for external systems to consume
• Safehouse – Marketing Cloud’s internal secure storage used for temporary processing – especially when importing zipped and / or encrypted files from FTP or for storing Data Extracts from Marketing Cloud. Do note that even though you may be able to configure Safehouse in File Locations, you need to raise a Support Case to have Safehouse enabled for processing zipped and / or encrypted File Transfers from Enhanced FTP.
• Custom Import Folder – you can configure a custom sub-folder under the Import folder and then use the Relative option. This sub-folder must be under the Import folder if you plan to use it for Import Activity in Automation Studio
• Custom File Drop Folder – you can configure custom folders for File Drop automations with or without Filename patterns associated with the same

2.3 File Drop Starting Source

Learn how to configure File Drop Starting Source for Automation Workflows – especially with and without Filename patterns. Please refer to this link for some of the best practices to consider when configuring File Drop automations.

2.4 Schedule Starting Source

Discover how to set up Schedule Entry Source for Automation Workflows – much simpler than a File Drop setup. Scheduled automations have the option for “Run Once” after the automation is saved as opposed to File Drop, where the latter requires a file to be dropped into the Enhanced FTP location in order to trigger the automation.