Starting a new implementation with a global report suite
Use the following general guidelines to understand the process of implementing a global report suite.
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Create the global report suite in Adobe Analytics. See Create a report suite in the Admin user guide for more information.
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Work with teams in your organization responsible for each domain. Many teams have reporting requirements specific to their area of the business.
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Record and aggregate all of these requirements in a Solution design document. If teams have similar requirements for a dimension, they can use the same custom variable. For example, if site A and site B both require a breadcrumb dimension, implementations for both sites can send that data through eVar1.
IMPORTANT
Make sure that any given custom variable is used similarly across domains. Do not use the same eVar or event for different purposes across your sites.1. Make sure that each domain has a data layer to simplify data collection. Data can still be collected without a data layer, but the reliability and longevity of your implementation decreases, especially as your site goes through redesigns.
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Use tags in Adobe Experience Platform to implement Analytics. Different sites will likely require different data elements. Use rules specific to each domain to make sure each data element is correctly populated, then assign those data elements to their respective eVars and events. Refer to the tags overview.
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Include the Adobe Experience Cloud ID Service and use the appendVisitorIDsTo function. This function merges visitor data when users click from one domain to another.
Modifying an existing implementation with a global report suite
The process of moving an existing implementation across multiple sites to a single global report suite requires more time and coordination between teams in your organization.
- Determine if you want to use one of your existing report suites, or start fresh with a new report suite. If you want to change the uses for existing variables in your implementation, starting with a new report suite is recommended.
- Determine a cutover date for when you want to make the switch to a global report suite. The best time to make a cutover is between two significant reporting periods, or alongside major changes to your site. Examples include the start of a fiscal quarter or year, during a site refresh, or change to a new tag management system.
- Follow the steps above (create a report suite, gather reporting requirements in a solution design document, and establish a data layer on each site). When implementing tags in Adobe Experience Platform, validate your implementation using a development version of your website.
- Once you have confirmed your implementation is working on dev, push your tags implementation live on the cutover date.