Adobe Analytics Help Documentation (Or Lack Thereof)

[jeff_bloomer]

I was really hoping that when you moved to a more updated version of online Help Documentation, there would be some level of improvement.  I was unfortunately mistaken and very much disappointed with the outcome.  I ended up saving ONE link that I use on a regular basis to share with users, because the definitions are extremely helpful, and today - IT DIED.  In fact, a whole bunch of them died.

https://docs.adobe.com/content/help/en/analytics/components/metrics/visits.html 

https://docs.adobe.com/content/help/en/analytics/components/dimensions/overview.html 

You must be doing something, but even worse than that, I have never been able to do a simple search on something like "REPORT SUITE" and be given any kind of intuitive results.
Instead, I'm given this:

I finally clicked on the first link today out of curiosity, but I threw up my hands in frustration the first time I did the search.  I've been using Adobe Analytics for 7 years, and I'm thinking to myself, I don't need information about the Report Suite Manager, I just need to grab a simple definition for my users!

Why does everything have to be so difficult?  I know it sounds like I'm complaining, and maybe I am, but I'm coming to these tools to get fast and easy answers so I don't have to spend time formulating this stuff on my own.  I'm a team of ONE!

After MUCH digging, I managed to finally come across this page: https://docs.adobe.com/content/help/en/analytics/technotes/terms.html 
The sad thing is, the definition I found for Report Suite was better on the Report Suite Manager page vs. the Glossary page:

On the Report Suite Manager Page: A report suite defines the complete, independent reporting on a chosen website, set of websites, or subset of web pages.

On the Glossary page: An overarching container that you send data to. All reports in Adobe Analytics reference a report suite.

Being a Data Analytics person, I'm about consistency.  I definitely like the first definition better, and would use it if I came across it first, but it is antiquated, because it does not take into account mobile applications.  The "overarching container" is great, but the second definition is also poorly worded, awkward and entirely too vague.  In fact, both are if you ask me.

1. More intuitive documentation.
2. Easier to search.
3. Consistent definitions.

I think those are reasonable requests for a highly complex tool like Adobe Analytics.

[TanmayMathur]

Hi Jeff, 

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your feedback. We would definitely want to make the experience better for our users. I have already passed on your comments to our Documentation team and they shall take appropriate action to make your experience better. 

Thanks,

Tanmay

[Gigazelle]

Hi Jeff,

I'm one of the doc writers for Analytics. First off, thank you for your candid feedback. There's a lot to unpack here, but hopefully I can address all your concerns.

• 404 links: During the time of this forum thread, I had recently published some major revisions to most dimensions and metrics in Adobe Analytics; what they are, how they're used, and how they collect data. This restructure required some URLs to change. I worked with the team that handles redirects so existing bookmarks and searches would not be interrupted, however the team ran into some issues that prevented those redirects from being put in place for several days. Everything is in now, but if you find any 404 errors I'd be happy to address them.
• Search: There's no way I can sugar coat this one. The internal search leaves a lot to be desired, and that's an understatement. You're not the first to express concern about search, and the team here is well aware of their shortcomings. We are currently working on a migration to Experience League where we have more control over search quality; I anticipate the move will happen in the next couple months. In the meantime, the docs are well-indexed on external search engines, which typically produce more desirable search results.
• Definition of report suite: One of the great things about our docs is that they are sourced on git. We welcome contributions from everyone. If there's a concept that you feel like you know how it could be worded better, we welcome those changes with open arms. Navigate to our documentation git repo, locate the doc page in question, click the Edit button, make the changes, then submit a pull request. That notifies me and my colleagues, where we can review and merge the changes. The README.md file there has more detailed instructions on that workflow. If you'd like, we could start by figuring out the ideal definition of report suite, and expand from there.

[jeff_bloomer]

Gigazelle!!

Long time no see!  So glad to be hearing from you.  I wish that was a LOVE button instead of a LIKE above.  This is all good news to me.  I'm sorry if what I said above sounded like complaining, but I just tend to be super candid about how I feel about things.  I guess you could say I'm very passionate.  Anyway, I'm very glad, and I like the documentation git.  Works much like a Wiki, so I will definitely take a look, now that I'm aware that it's out there and let other colleagues know it exists!

Thank you, thank you!!

[Gigazelle]

The world needs more people like you who are passionate about self-help and documentation. I look forward to working with you!