A practical explanation of what happens when you augment or join a master table to a child table in CRM Analytics (Dataflow vs Recipe) — and which child row gets selected when multiples exist.
When you augment a master table with child data in CRM Analytics, behavior differs between Dataflow and Recipe nodes and depends on whether you enable “Look Up Multiple Values”. Understanding this helps you avoid unexpected aggregations or the wrong row being picked in your lenses and dashboards.
Key behaviors
- Dataflow — Look Up Multiple Values: Numeric (measure) fields are summed across matching child rows. Dimension (text) fields will collect all matching values; however, when you browse the resulting dataset in a Lens the UI typically shows one value (it doesn’t expand multi-value text in the lens).
- Dataflow — Look Up Single Values: The dataflow picks the first matching record for both numeric and text fields.
- Recipe — With “Look Up Multiple Values”: Numeric fields will be summed and text fields will show all values in the recipe interface; again, Lens displays a single value when visualizing.
- Recipe — Without “Look Up Multiple Values”: The lookup returns only one matching record. In practice this appears to be the record with the lowest value for a numeric sort field. If no numeric field exists, the lookup seems to fall back to alphabetical ascending order on text fields and takes the first row.
Why this matters
If multiple child rows relate to a single master row, choosing the wrong lookup mode can lead to double-counting (when you expect a single row) or to summary metrics that aren’t meaningful (e.g., summing values you didn’t intend to aggregate). It also affects which text label or status appears in your reports.
Best practices and recommended approaches
- Decide intentionally: choose “Look Up Multiple Values” when you truly want to aggregate (sum) measures across child rows; choose single-value lookups when you want a single representative child record.
- Pre-aggregate child tables where possible (in a dataflow node or recipe step) to guarantee the exact aggregation logic you need before augmenting the master table.
- If you need a deterministic single row, add an explicit sort & rank step (or compute a priority flag) in the child dataset and then join on that filtered result so you control which row is returned.
- Test both in the Recipe UI and in Lens — the recipe editor may show multi-value text clearly while the Lens will surface a single value. Confirm final visualization behavior, not just recipe preview.
- Document your choice in data documentation so downstream users understand when sums were produced vs a single-value lookup.
Use cases: good for master-detail scenarios such as Orders (master) with multiple Order Line Items (child) — use multi-value lookups when you want totals at the Order level; use single-value or ranked child row when you want the “first shipped item” or the “highest priority” child attribute on the master record.
For Salesforce admins, developers, and business users this matters because it directly affects KPIs, dashboard accuracy, and user trust in analytics. Being explicit about aggregation versus single-row pulls helps keep metrics correct, explainable, and actionable.
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