TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

1. set up Braze as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
2. set up DynamoDB as a destination connector
3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is Braze

Braze is a customer engagement platform that helps businesses build meaningful relationships with their customers. It offers a suite of tools for creating personalized and relevant messaging across multiple channels, including email, push notifications, in-app messaging, and more. With Braze, businesses can track customer behavior and preferences, segment their audience, and deliver targeted campaigns that drive engagement and revenue. The platform also includes advanced analytics and reporting capabilities, allowing businesses to measure the impact of their campaigns and optimize their strategies over time. Overall, Braze helps businesses create more effective and engaging customer experiences that drive loyalty and growth.

What is DynamoDB

Amazon DynamoDB is a fully managed proprietary NoSQL database service that supports key–value and document data structures and is offered by Amazon.com as part of the Amazon Web Services portfolio. DynamoDB exposes a similar data model to and derives its name from Dynamo, but has a different underlying implementation.

Prerequisites

1. A Braze account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
2. A DynamoDB account.
3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including Braze and DynamoDB, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from Braze to DynamoDB, it extracts data from Braze using the source connector, converts it into a format DynamoDB can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into DynamoDB via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their Braze data for advanced analytics and insights within DynamoDB, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Step 1: Set up Braze as a source connector

1. First, navigate to the Braze source connector page on Airbyte.com.
2. Click on the "Create a new Braze source" button.
3. Enter a name for your Braze source connector.
4. Enter your Braze API key and secret key in the appropriate fields.
5. Select the Braze API endpoint you want to use (REST or Export API).
6. Choose the data you want to replicate from Braze by selecting the appropriate tables and fields.
7. Test the connection to ensure that the credentials are correct and the connection is successful.
8. Save the Braze source connector configuration.
9. Run the Braze source connector to start replicating data from Braze to your destination.

Step 2: Set up DynamoDB as a destination connector

1. Open the Airbyte platform and navigate to the "Destinations" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Scroll down until you find the "DynamoDB" connector and click on it.
3. Click on the "Create new connection" button.
4. Enter a name for your connection and click on the "Next" button.
5. Enter your AWS access key ID and secret access key in the appropriate fields.
6. Enter the name of the DynamoDB table you want to connect to.
7. Choose the region where your DynamoDB table is located.
8. Click on the "Test connection" button to ensure that your credentials are correct and that the connection is successful.
9. If the test is successful, click on the "Create connection" button to save your settings.
10. You can now use the DynamoDB destination connector to transfer data from your source to your DynamoDB table.

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Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your Braze data to DynamoDB

Once you've successfully connected Braze as a data source and DynamoDB as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
2. Choose your source: Select Braze from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
3. Select your destination: Choose DynamoDB from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific Braze objects you want to import data from towards DynamoDB. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from Braze to DynamoDB according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your DynamoDB data warehouse is always up-to-date with your Braze data.

Use Cases to transfer your Braze data to DynamoDB

Integrating data from Braze to DynamoDB provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

1. Advanced Analytics: DynamoDB’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your Braze data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within Braze alone.
2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with Braze, syncing to DynamoDB allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
3. Historical Data Analysis: Braze has limits on historical data. Syncing data to DynamoDB allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
4. Data Security and Compliance: DynamoDB provides robust data security features. Syncing Braze data to DynamoDB ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
5. Scalability: DynamoDB can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding Braze data.
6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having Braze data in DynamoDB, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
7. Reporting and Visualization: While Braze provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to DynamoDB, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a Braze table that needs to be converted to a DynamoDB table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

1. Configure a Braze account as an Airbyte data source connector.
2. Configure DynamoDB as a data destination connector.
3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from Braze to DynamoDB after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!