Heap integration summary

Stitch’s Heap integration replicates data from Avro files published to Amazon S3 via Heap’s Connect for Amazon S3 feature. Refer to the Schema section for a list of objects available for replication.

Heap feature snapshot

A high-level look at Stitch's Heap (v1) integration, including release status, useful links, and the features supported in Stitch.

STITCH
Release status

Released on February 13, 2019

Supported by

Stitch

Stitch plan

Standard

API availability

Available

Singer GitHub repository

singer-io/tap-heap

REPLICATION SETTINGS
Anchor Scheduling

Supported

Advanced Scheduling

Unsupported

Table-level reset

Unsupported

Configurable Replication Methods

Unsupported

DATA SELECTION
Table selection

Supported

Column selection

Supported

Select all

Supported

TRANSPARENCY
Extraction Logs

Supported

Loading Reports

Supported

Connecting Heap

Heap setup requirements

To set up Heap in Stitch, you need:

  • Access to Heap Connect using Amazon S3. Stitch’s Heap integration currently only replicates data from Heap Amazon S3 instances.

  • Permissions in AWS Identity Access Management (IAM) that allow you to create policies, create roles, and attach policies to roles. This is required to grant Stitch authorization to your S3 bucket.


Step 1: Retrieve your Amazon Web Services account ID

  1. Sign into your Amazon Web Services (AWS) account.
  2. Click the user menu, located between the bell and Global menus in the top-right corner of the page.
  3. Click My Account.
  4. In the Account Settings section of the page, locate the Account Id field:

    An AWS account ID, highlighted in the AWS Account Settings page

Keep this handy - you’ll need it to complete the setup.

Step 2: Add Heap as a Stitch data source

  1. Sign into your Stitch account.
  2. On the Stitch Dashboard page, click the Add Integration button.

  3. Click the Heap icon.

  4. Enter a name for the integration. This is the name that will display on the Stitch Dashboard for the integration; it’ll also be used to create the schema in your destination.

    For example, the name “Stitch Heap” would create a schema called stitch_heap in the destination. Note: Schema names cannot be changed after you save the integration.

  5. In the S3 Bucket field, enter the name of the bucket. Enter only the bucket name: No URLs, https, or S3 parts. For example: heap-rs3-stitch-bucket
  6. In the AWS Account ID field, paste the account ID you retrieve in Step 1.

Step 3: Define the historical replication start date

The Sync Historical Data setting defines the starting date for your Heap integration. This means that data equal to or newer than this date will be replicated to your data warehouse.

Change this setting if you want to replicate data beyond Heap’s default setting of 1 year. For a detailed look at historical replication jobs, check out the Syncing Historical SaaS Data guide.

Step 4: Create a replication schedule

In the Replication Frequency section, you’ll create the integration’s replication schedule. An integration’s replication schedule determines how often Stitch runs a replication job, and the time that job begins.

Heap integrations support the following replication scheduling methods:

To keep your row usage low, consider setting the integration to replicate less frequently. See the Understanding and Reducing Your Row Usage guide for tips on reducing your usage.

Step 5: Grant access to your bucket using AWS IAM

Next, Stitch will display a Configure Your Heap Integration page. This page contains the info you need to configure bucket access for Stitch, which is accomplished via an IAM policy and role.

Note: Saving the integration before you’ve completed the steps below will result in connection errors.

Step 5.1: Create an IAM policy

An IAM policy is JSON-based access policy language to manage permissions to Heap resources.

For more info about the permissions the auto-generated policy Stitch IAM policy grants, click the link below.

Permission name Operation Description
s3:GetObject GET Object

Allows for the retrieval of objects from Amazon S3.

HEAD Object

Allows for the retrieval of metadata from an object without returning the object itself.

s3:ListBucket GET Bucket (List Objects)

Allows for the return of some or all (up to 1,000) of the objects in a bucket.

HEAD Bucket

Used to determine if a bucket exists and access is allowed.

To create the IAM policy:

  1. In AWS, navigate to the IAM service by clicking the Services menu and typing IAM.
  2. Click IAM once it displays in the results.
  3. On the IAM home page, click Policies in the menu on the left side of the page.
  4. Click Create Policy.
  5. In the Create Policy page, click the JSON tab.
  6. Select everything currently in the text field and delete it.
  7. In the text field, paste the IAM policy from the Configure Your Heap Integration page in Stitch.
  8. Click Review policy.
  9. On the Review Policy page, give the policy a name. For example: stitch_heap
  10. Click Create policy.

Step 5.2: Create an IAM role for Stitch

In this step, you’ll create an IAM role for Stitch and apply the IAM policy from the previous step. This will ensure that Stitch is visible in any logs and audits.

To create the role, you’ll need the Account ID, External ID, and Role Name values provided on the Stitch Configure Your Heap Integration page.

  1. In AWS, navigate to the IAM Roles page.
  2. Click Create Role.
  3. On the Create Role page:
    1. In the Select type of trusted entity section, click the Another AWS account option.
    2. In the Account ID field, paste the Account ID from Stitch. Note: This isn’t your AWS account ID from Step 1 - this is the Account ID that displays in Stitch on the Configure Your Heap Integration page.
    3. In the Options section, check the Require external ID box.
    4. In the External ID field that displays, paste the External ID from the Stitch Configure Your Heap Integration page: Account ID and External ID fields mapped from Stitch to AWS
    5. Click Next: Permissions.
  4. On the Attach permissions page:
    1. Search for the policy you created in the previous step.
    2. Once located, check the box next to it in the table.
    3. Click Next: Tags.
  5. If you want to enter any tags, do so on the Add tags page. Otherwise, click Next: Review.
  6. On the Review page:
    1. In the Role name field, paste the Role Name from the Stitch Configure Your Heap Integration page: Role name field mapped from Stitch to AWS

      Remember: Role names are unique to the Stitch Heap integration they’re created for. Attempting to use the same role for multiple integrations will cause connection errors.

    2. Enter a description in the Role description field. For example: Stitch role for Heap integration.
    3. Click Create role.

Step 5.3: Check and save the connection in Stitch

After you’ve created the IAM policy and role, you can save the integration in Stitch. When finished, click Check and Save.

Step 6: Set objects to replicate

The last step is to select the tables and columns you want to replicate. Learn about the available tables for this integration.

Note: If a replication job is currently in progress, new selections won’t be used until the next job starts.

For Heap integrations, you can select:

  1. Individual tables and columns

  2. All tables and columns

Click the tabs to view instructions for each selection method.

  1. In the integration’s Tables to Replicate tab, locate a table you want to replicate.
  2. To track a table, click the checkbox next to the table’s name. A blue checkmark means the table is set to replicate.

  3. To track a column, click the checkbox next to the column’s name. A blue checkmark means the column is set to replicate.

  4. Repeat this process for all the tables and columns you want to replicate.
  5. When finished, click the Finalize Your Selections button at the bottom of the screen to save your selections.
  1. Click into the integration from the Stitch Dashboard page.
  2. Click the Tables to Replicate tab.

  3. In the list of tables, click the box next to the Table Names column.
  4. In the menu that displays, click Track all Tables and Fields:

    The Track all Tables and Fields menu in the Tables to Replicate tab

  5. Click the Finalize Your Selections button at the bottom of the page to save your data selections.

Initial and historical replication jobs

After you finish setting up Heap, its Sync Status may show as Pending on either the Stitch Dashboard or in the Integration Details page.

For a new integration, a Pending status indicates that Stitch is in the process of scheduling the initial replication job for the integration. This may take some time to complete.

Free historical data loads

The first seven days of replication, beginning when data is first replicated, are free. Rows replicated from the new integration during this time won’t count towards your quota. Stitch offers this as a way of testing new integrations, measuring usage, and ensuring historical data volumes don’t quickly consume your quota.


Heap replication

Replication in Stitch’s Heap integration depends on two factors:

  1. How Heap syncs data to your Amazon S3 bucket, and
  2. How Stitch identifies new data in Heap integrations

Heap data syncs to Amazon S3

Heap dumps data into Amazon S3 periodically. By default, this is on a nightly basis.

According to Heap’s documentation:

Heap will provide a periodic dump of data into S3 (nightly by default). Data will be delivered in the form of Avro-encoded files, each of which corresponds to one downstream table (though there can be multiple files per table). Dumps will be incremental, though individual table dumps can be full resyncs, depending on whether the table was recently toggled or the event definition modified.

This means that while files will only include new and updated data pertinent to that specific object (table), a full resync may be included.

Key-based Incremental Replication using file modification timestamps

To identify new and updated data for replication, Stitch will use file modification timestamps as Replication Keys and store them on a per-table basis. This means that only files dumped from a new Heap data sync will be selected for replication.

While data from Heap integrations is replicated using Key-based Incremental Replication, the behavior for this integration differs subtly from other integrations.

The table below compares Key-based Incremental Replication and Replication Key behavior for Heap to that of other integrations.

Heap Other integrations
What's replicated during a replication job?

The entire contents of a modified file.

Only new or updated rows in a table.

What's used as a Replication Key?

The time a file is modified.

A column or columns in a table.

Are Replication Keys inclusive?

No. Only files with a modification timestamp value greater than the last saved bookmark are replicated.

Yes. Rows with a Replication Key value greater than or equal to the last saved bookmark are replicated.


Heap table reference

Custom attributes

Heap’s data model is dynamic, meaning it changes as custom attributes are added to object types in your account. For example: Adding new user attributes to the user object.

This means that the Heap schema in your destination may also change over time as you add new attributes in Heap.

When a new attribute is added to an object in Heap, it will display as a selectable field in the Stitch app. Note: To include the field in replication, you’ll need to select it in Stitch. Stitch will not automatically select new fields.

The schema documentation following this section outlines the default attributes for each object type according to Heap’s documentation.

Event tables

For each event type you define in Heap, a table for that event will be available for selection in Stitch.

For example: If there’s a Sign up - Click button event, there will be a table named sign_up_click_button.

Refer to the [event_type] schema documentation for a list of default event attributes.

Note: When new event types are added in Heap, you will need to select the table and fields in Stitch to include it in replication.


event_tables

For every event type defined in Heap, a table will display in the Stitch app. The name of the table will be the event name, which Heap will first strip the non-alphanumeric characters from. For example: The table name for Sign Up - Click Link will be transformed into sign_up_click_link by Heap.

Note: Custom attributes are supported for this table. As Heap schemas are dynamic, Stitch’s event_tables documentation will only list the non-custom attributes outlined in Heap’s documentation.

Replication Method

Key-based Incremental

Primary Key

event_id

Useful links

Heap documentation

Join event_tables with on
pageviews
event_tables.event_id = pageviews.event_id
event_tables.session_id = pageviews.session_id
event_tables.user_id = pageviews.user_id
sessions
event_tables.event_id = sessions.event_id
event_tables.session_id = sessions.session_id
event_tables.user_id = sessions.user_id
user_migrations
event_tables.user_id = user_migrations.to_user_id
users
event_tables.user_id = users.user_id

IP

STRING

action_method

STRING

app_name

STRING

app_version

STRING

browser

STRING

carrier

STRING

city

STRING

country

STRING

device

STRING

device_type

STRING

event_id

STRING

hash

STRING

href

STRING

landing_page

STRING

library

STRING

path

STRING

platform

STRING

query

STRING

referrer

STRING

region

STRING

screen_ally_id

STRING

screen_ally_label

STRING

search_keyword

STRING

session_id

INTEGER

session_time

STRING

target_ally_id

STRING

target_ally_label

STRING

target_text

STRING

target_view_class

STRING

target_view_name

STRING

time

STRING

title

STRING

type

STRING

user_id

INTEGER

utm_campaign

STRING

utm_content

STRING

utm_medium

STRING

utm_source

STRING

utm_term

STRING

view_controller

STRING

pageviews

The pageviews table contains info about pageviews.

Note: Custom attributes are supported for this table. As Heap schemas are dynamic, Stitch’s pageviews documentation will only list the non-custom attributes outlined in Heap’s documentation.

Replication Method

Key-based Incremental

Primary Key

event_id

Useful links

Heap documentation

Join pageviews with on
event_tables
pageviews.event_id = event_tables.event_id
pageviews.session_id = event_tables.session_id
pageviews.user_id = event_tables.user_id
sessions
pageviews.event_id = sessions.event_id
pageviews.session_id = sessions.session_id
pageviews.user_id = sessions.user_id
user_migrations
pageviews.user_id = user_migrations.to_user_id
users
pageviews.user_id = users.user_id

IP

STRING

app_name

STRING

app_version

STRING

browser

STRING

carrier

STRING

city

STRING

country

STRING

device

STRING

device_type

STRING

event_id

STRING

hash

STRING

landing_page

STRING

library

STRING

path

STRING

platform

STRING

query

STRING

referrer

STRING

region

STRING

screen_ally_id

STRING

screen_ally_label

STRING

search_keyword

STRING

session_id

INTEGER

session_time

STRING

time

STRING

title

STRING

user_id

INTEGER

utm_campaign

STRING

utm_content

STRING

utm_medium

STRING

utm_source

STRING

utm_term

STRING

view_controller

STRING

sessions

The sessions table contains info about sessions. In Heap, a web session ends after 30 minutes of user inactivity, while in iOS, a session ends after the app has entered the background.

Note: Custom attributes are supported for this table. As Heap schemas are dynamic, Stitch’s sessions documentation will only list the non-custom attributes outlined in Heap’s documentation.

Replication Method

Key-based Incremental

Primary Key

event_id

Useful links

Heap documentation

Join sessions with on
event_tables
sessions.event_id = event_tables.event_id
sessions.session_id = event_tables.session_id
sessions.user_id = event_tables.user_id
pageviews
sessions.event_id = pageviews.event_id
sessions.session_id = pageviews.session_id
sessions.user_id = pageviews.user_id
user_migrations
sessions.user_id = user_migrations.to_user_id
users
sessions.user_id = users.user_id

IP

STRING

app_name

STRING

app_version

STRING

browser

STRING

carrier

STRING

city

STRING

country

STRING

device

STRING

device_type

STRING

event_id

STRING

landing_page

STRING

library

STRING

platform

STRING

referrer

STRING

region

STRING

search_keyword

STRING

session_id

INTEGER

time

STRING

user_id

INTEGER

utm_campaign

STRING

utm_content

STRING

utm_medium

STRING

utm_source

STRING

utm_term

STRING

user_migrations

The user_migrations table contains info about user migrations.

Note: Custom attributes are supported for this table. As Heap schemas are dynamic, Stitch’s user_migrations documentation will only list the non-custom attributes outlined in Heap’s documentation.

Replication Method

Key-based Incremental

Primary Key

from_user_id

Useful links

Heap documentation

Join user_migrations with on
event_tables
user_migrations.to_user_id = event_tables.user_id
pageviews
user_migrations.to_user_id = pageviews.user_id
sessions
user_migrations.to_user_id = sessions.user_id
users
user_migrations.to_user_id = users.user_id

from_user_id

STRING

time

STRING

to_user_id

INTEGER

users

The users table contains info about users.

Note: Custom attributes are supported for this table. As Heap schemas are dynamic, Stitch’s users documentation will only list the non-custom attributes outlined in Heap’s documentation.

Replication Method

Key-based Incremental

Primary Key

user_id

Useful links

Heap documentation

Join users with on
event_tables
users.user_id = event_tables.user_id
pageviews
users.user_id = pageviews.user_id
sessions
users.user_id = sessions.user_id
user_migrations
users.user_id = user_migrations.to_user_id

email

STRING

handle

STRING

identity

STRING

joindate

STRING

last_modified

STRING

user_id

STRING


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