Sync Dry Runs

Sometimes it's helpful to know the impact of a sync before actually running it.

Perhaps you're running a new sync for the first time, or just made some big changes to the data model powering an existing sync.

Whatever the reason, dry runs help you sync data with confidence by simulating a sync and providing a concise summary of the changes Census would have made in the destination.

How do I start a dry run?

If dry runs are available for a sync you've created, you'll see a Start Dry Run button on the sync overview page. This is true even if you haven't triggered your first sync run yet.

What do dry runs tell me?

Every destination API we integrate with provides different capabilities and our dry run experience reflects that. Depending on the circumstances, a dry run will provide you with some combination of the data points below.

Source info

• Total records: total records in the source data

• Records changed: records changed since the previous sync (on the first sync, this will equal the total number of records)

• Records invalid: records marked as invalid by Census (often due to duplicate identifiers)

Destination info

• Records before: records currently in the destination

• Records after: records that would exist in the destination after running the sync

• Expected creates: records that would be created as a result of the sync

• Expected updates: records that would be updated as a result of the sync

• Expected deletes: records that would be deleted as a result of the sync

How do I view historical dry runs?

You can access the results of historical dry runs at any time. Just visit the Sync History tab for a sync and click on the dry run to view the results.

A special case: Braze data point consumption

Braze is one of our most popular destinations, but their unique pricing model (based on data point consumption) might cause you to hesitate when syncing large amounts of data via Census.

As a result, we've built an enhanced version of dry runs specifically for Braze to help you estimate the number of data point writes a sync will consume (both overall and for each individual field.)

Need something? We're here to help

If you have questions about dry runs or need help understanding the impact of a sync, reach out to our support team via email or in-app chat.