Before ingesting customer data into the SAP Customer Data Platform (CDP), it is essential to configure processing purposes within the system. This is a built-in mechanism that identifies the different purposes for handling customer data that streams into and out of the system. The processing of personal data is governed by regional and local regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA. The CDP ingestion process allows businesses to ensure compliance with these regulations, restrictions, and policies applicable to customer data usage. It is important to note that the CDP ingestion process does not collect, audit, or handle the actual collection of processing purposes. Instead, it allows for storing those collected purposes and applying data governance based on those purposes. In the context of CDP, the processing purpose is sent as data points in an event from a source, and multiple processing purposes may be defined per business unit. Only those processing purposes needed for managing customer data in CDP should be added.

References = The detailed explanation is based on information found in the SAP Help Portal, specifically within the documentation for processing purposes in the SAP Customer Data Platform1.