Category: governance

Keith MacDonald 9:11 am on Nov 8, 2011 Permalink | Reply
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How to Build Trust in Web Analytics: 3 Essential Factors

As the ‘new guy’ at Unilytics I have the somewhat unique perspective of transferring from in-house web analytics expert (in my previous role) to web analytics consultant. This perspective, combined with anecdotal stories from fellow practitioners, has lead me to the following conclusion:

For web analytics to be really successful, building trust within the organisation is paramount. Without trust from the organisation, any potential value from web analytics is constantly undermined by fear, uncertainty and doubt.

Building trust in web analytics (as a business service) requires three things: accurate data, thoughtful analysis and end-user adoption.
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Nad Balata 2:06 pm on Jun 15, 2011 Permalink | Reply
Tags: audit   

Do not start a Web Analytics Audit without considering this…

Why do audits happen?

Web Analytics Audits often happen because of mistrust of, or confusion in, the report data. Often organizations invest considerable resources in their web analytics system, only to find out that there are problems with the numbers. Numbers may not make sense, or can be awkward to justify. Let’s review what should happen for an audit to be effective and handle all problems.

What happens in an audit?

On the technical side:

  • A review of tags are done
    • All pages are reviewed to ensure that each page contains a tag and that intermediary or third-party pages are tagged with their template.
    • Verification is done to ensure that the tags are correctly configured so that JavaScript errors or other situational problems do no cause problems with tracking.
  • Session tracking verification
    • We first determine that cross domain tracking is working and not breaking valid sessions.  Attribution tracking is reviewed and verified for all entry points.
    • We check the results across other web analytics tools which may be installed to ensure that the session data matches up.
    • Verification of first/third-party cookie tracking is then done to ensure that data is not being lost or incorrectly categorized.  We also check that tags are writing cookies properly both individually and on aggregate.
  • If multiple analytics tools are installed, we will verify the magnitude of metrics across multiple tools.  This includes systematic review of certain key dimensions across their associated metrics between the two tools.
  • Of the analytics tool, we review the following details
    • Verify table limits – is data being cut off or discarded?
    • Verify Query parameters – are we rebuilding the correct parameters to best describe our dimensional data?
    • Custom reporting configurations – Are the custom reports setup correctly and answering the correct question?
    • Segmentation and filter review – Are the filters correct and do they represent the correct segments?  Review the content and configuration of the segments to determine that the filters are not contradicting or breaking expectations.
    • Tool specific customizations – based on the selected analytics tool, we will review the advanced configuration to ensure that each of the items are configured to support goals and expectations.

On the business side:

  • Are all critical metrics being reported on?
  • How are new reporting requirements managed?
  • Is the information organized and accessible to decision makers?
  • Does the data allow decisions to be made?
  • Can the impact of those decisions be measured?

What are the results?

Once the audit is completed, we compile a list of our findings, completed configuration changes, future configuration changes, code changes, and other expectations.  The results of the audit set the stage for next step recommendations, governance updates and overall strategy for future initiatives.

Nad Balata 4:10 pm on Oct 17, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

The most important consideration when me…

The most important consideration when measuring the success of a web site is to first know what its purpose is. Most SharePoint applications are used for intranets; in fact fully 92% of intranets are implemented and supported using SharePoint. It can therefore be assumed that user engagement, employee productivity, information sharing and collaboration are top of mind for websites created using SharePoint. The problem is that SharePoint native tools and even off-the-shelf web analytics products don’t effectively deliver user activity reporting. Mostly, this is a limitation of the complexity of the SharePoint software model. But with improved scripting tools, it is possible to deliver this level of reporting.

One of the unique aspects of intranet sites is that they typically require authentication. That delivers the ability to track individual users and report on their site usage. And of course that is what we want to do! This gives the ability to understand how your SharePoint investment is performing by tracking individual user activity for things such as:

  • display of specific Web Parts
  • document activity, such as checkouts, downloads and approvals
  • paths taken and SharePoint breadcrumbs followed
  • business transaction completions
  • search intelligence, such as search terms, results viewed and search refinements

The next consideration for intranets is that because we are measuring mostly internal traffic it may be less appealing to use technology that will store visitor traffic data outside the organization. All effective web analytics products (Webtrends, Omniture and Google Analytics) today use JavaScripts to collect visitor information. But if those systems are hosted, the data will be stored on external  servers. Only Webtrends offers onsite premise software which makes it possible to use JavaScripts but still retain the collected data in-house.

The next potential hazard is that to collect per visitor information, web analytics tool vendors require modification of critical SharePoint files. Most IT departments will not allow those changes. And for clients running SharePoint in a hosted environment, those files are not accessible for modification at all. But there are technologies available to “bridge” between SharePoint and your web analytics package by adding JavaScript which runs between them.

To determine the success of SharePoint sites, you must measure individual visitor traffic to understand how it is being used and fortunately, since users have to log in that is possible. But native reporting doesn’t deliver satisfactory results. By using tools to bridge between SharePoint and web analytics packages, you will be able to measure the success of your site without violating internal IT standards.

Peder 6:03 pm on Mar 15, 2010 Permalink | Reply
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Web analytics should begin with a plan. …

Web analytics should begin with a plan. Unfortunately, most don’t. And the plan should start by answering the most basic of questions; why do we have a web site?

All web sites can be categorized as having one of two objectives; either to make money or to save money. Sites which make money are not only those in which shopping carts are presented. Rather, any site involved in the promotion of products or services have as their underlying purpose to increase brand awareness and encourage purchases on or offline.

Sites which attempt to make money include:

  • lead generation
  • brand awareness
  • eCommerce
  • Social networking
  • Entertainment

Conversely, sites which attempt to save money are those which encourage self-service. It decreases corporate costs if web visitors can successfully download a document, register for assistance or fill in an online form rather than contacting a toll-free number and asking for the same to be done or mailed out.

Sites which attempt to save money include:

  • >Customer education
  • Self-service
  • Customer service
  • Informational
  • Intranet

Understanding the objective of your site allows you to construct and establish key performance indicators (KPI) you need to track. Studying raw web analytics reports is meaningless.

Measures, which illustrate visitor behaviour and traffic volumes, are not indicators of web site success. Reports showing page views, most popular pages and visitor traffic do not indicate whether a site is performing well or not. No organization, with the possible exception of media firms, should fundamentally care if page views and visitor numbers increase. To extract real meaning from increases in raw numbers like page views or visitors it must be put into some context. That’s where KPIs come in.

Nad Balata 1:12 pm on Dec 7, 2009 Permalink | Reply
Tags: , IT, management, marketing   

With organizations becoming increasingly…

With organizations becoming increasingly sophisticated with their web analytics initiatives so should management and owners of web analytics.  For many companies the question that arises is who is responsible for the web site and analytics.  Spurring this introspection is the fact that market research currently shows that Marketing owns web analytics 46% of the time, while traditionally IT owns responsibility of implementing tagging required to populate report data.

Have you ever run into any of the following issues in your web analytics implementation:

  • “Where is my data?” or “How is that calculated?”
  • Difficulty obtaining budget approvals due to lack of ROI calculations
  • “Trial and error” changes. For example, putting in changes, finding out they’re wrong, and then having to back them out
  • Analytics stalls because business and technology don’t know how to communicate their needs

Naturally, there can be a bottleneck when Marketing makes requests for reports or additional functionality especially when only one person manages web analytics.  Moreover, there needs to be a discussion on the four pillars of governance: accountability, accessibility, community and uniformity. These pillars address topics such as covering reporting responsibility, ensuring data is accurate, available and standardized, etc.

This is what we call Web Analytics Governance and it is gaining some steam and rightly so.  Governance is:

  • The management of people, technology, and processes toward a common goal.
  • The process of installing, configuring, managing, and utilizing the web analytics platform.
  • Encompasses the way in which the business consumes and actions the web analytics data.
  • Includes the feedback loop from the business back to the web analytics platform for enhancements or changes.

By establishing a strong governance model companies can eliminate inefficiencies, overlapping of roles, and establish key roles for a successful analytics deployment.

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