Verification Activity in Salesforce Marketing Cloud (SFMC) Automation Studio is used to validate data conditions before allowing an automation to proceed. If the verification conditions are not met, the automation can be stopped or trigger a failure alert.

Why Use Verification Activity?

The Verification Activity is useful for:

• Ensuring required data is available before executing further steps.
• Preventing automations from running with incorrect or missing data.
• Reducing errors in data imports, email sends, and SQL queries.
• Stopping the automation if conditions are not met.

How to Use the Verification Activity

Step 1: Open Automation Studio

1. Log in to your Salesforce Marketing Cloud account.
2. Go to Journey Builder → Automation Studio.
3. Click on New Automation to create an automation or edit an existing one.

Step 2: Add the Verification Activity

1. Drag and drop the Verification Activity into the workflow before a critical step (e.g., before a Send Email or SQL Query activity).
2. Click on the Verification Activity to configure it.

Step 3: Configure the Verification Rules

• Choose one or more Data Extensions or Data Views to verify.
• Define conditions for verification, such as:
  • Record Count Check: Ensures a Data Extension has a minimum number of records before proceeding.
  • Column Value Check: Ensures specific values exist in selected fields.
  • Date Check: Ensures date values meet specific criteria.
• Set an action if verification fails:
  • Stop the automation (recommended for critical processes).
  • Continue automation execution (not recommended unless necessary).

Step 4: Save and Activate

1. Click Save after configuring conditions.
2. Run a test by executing the automation manually.
3. If successful, click Activate to schedule the automation.

Example Use Cases for Verification Activity

1. Ensure a Data Extension Has Records Before Sending an Email

• Condition: The Data Extension must have at least 100 records.
• Action: Stop the automation if the condition is not met.

2. Validate Data Import Before Processing

• Condition: Ensure that the imported file contains expected column values (e.g., Email field is not empty).
• Action: Stop the automation if missing values are found.

3. Prevent SQL Query Execution If No Data Is Available

• Condition: Check if a SQL Query result Data Extension contains data.
• Action: Stop the automation if the result set is empty.

Best Practices for Using Verification Activity

• Use Verification Activity before critical steps (like email sends or queries).
• Set clear failure actions (e.g., stopping the automation).
• Monitor automation logs to track verification failures.
• Combine with error-handling strategies (like email alerts).