Analytics Support

Here at Contensis we don't believe in re-inventing wheels; there are website analytics packages out there of varying prices and types, one of which will meet the precise needs of your organisation.

Because of this, and the fact that the companies that produce this software invest millions of pounds every year in developing them, means that we integrate with them, we don't compete against them.

The two main types of solution available today consist of log crunchers and embedded JavaScript solutions. We will look at the merits of these individually and explain how we support them.

Log Crunchers

Log crunchers simply read the log files created by the web server in question.

We fully support log crunchers.

Generally, Contensis publishes to a Microsoft IIS Server although we do have the ability to publish to any other webserver of your choice including Apache, Sun, etc. Each of these webservers will have an in-built logging function.  As Contensis publishes actual pages, the standard logging features of the webserver can be used and the statistics solution of choice can be configured to look at the relevant log files. In essence we have no involvement, other than publishing real pages which means that the native webserver logging works as it should.

Generally log crunchers are being used less and less but they are still, at present, a contender in the statistics market place.

JavaScript-based Solutions

JavaScript-based statistics servers in essence embed a piece of script or an image on the web page, and when the user visits the page the script is triggered which executes a http request directly to the system of choice.

JavaScript solutions such as Google Analytics are fully supported.

Because embedding JavaScript in templates or pages is fully supported, any of these statistics packages will be fully supported.

We find, in practise, that many of our customers use either WebTrends or Google Analytics. As we have so many customers that use these, we have created standard functionality to support them.

If you are using either of these then all you need to is add a key into the site config and the statistics will be automatically enabled.

Statistics can be up-and-running in as long as it takes to copy and paste the key. With WebTrends you also need to add the collection server URL.

Due to customer demand, Contensis have a WebTrends hosted service that is available to customers. Please contact our Sales Team of you need more information on this.

 

Simple Statistics Tracking

Although we do not provide a set of statistical reporting tools for websites in our core package, there is need to record some statistical information for the purpose of areas such as personalisation.

Contensis has the option to enable stats tracking and, once enabled, the system will record statistics to its internal databases of the visits to pages and content.

We can then use this information to personalise user experience in almost any way you choose. One example would be a "Whats Hot" control. This could be placed on a user's dashboard and show the content that is most regularly visited in the user's department or in general across the whole site.

The options for this are almost limitless, but this type of statistical data can be very useful for personalising a user's experience.

At another level, you may want to change a user's features depending upon which email campaigns they have clicked through to; just another example of the endless possibilities for this functionality.