Intention to End-of-life Ad Hoc Analysis (Discover) announced

[jen_lasser]

On August 6, 2018, Adobe announced plans to end-of-life Ad Hoc Analysis, as well as the Discover point-product. Ad Hoc Analysis functionality and capabilities are being moved to Analysis Workspace. It is common practice for Adobe to announce plans to deprecate a technology at least one year in advance, to give our customers plenty of time to migrate projects, learn new workflows and ease into the transition. To ensure all users make a smooth transition, Adobe is targeting Q3 2019 to deprecate Ad Hoc Analysis. For more information, visit https://adobe.ly/discoverworkspace.

In support of this announcement, we are working toward improving 3 primary workflows in Analysis Workspace, giving you the ability to:

1) Build advanced queries, without having to wait for individual components to build

2) Download 50K rows from freeform tables

3) Remove repeat instances from Flow

A date for end-of-life/access will not be set until these workflows are improved.

This thread has been created to provide a channel for feedback about the announcement.

[evans46331181]

Downloading reports in Workspace is too time-consuming especially when Adobe servers are overwhelmed.  Ad Hoc is great because you can COPY THE DATA DIRECTLY without a download.  So we'll get the "Email this report to make it faster" and stare at our inboxes waiting for a report that would take a second to copy in Ad Hoc.

PLEASE REVISIT THIS DECISION!

[ebr64]

I’ve never seen the "Email this report to make it faster" message in Workspace. Only in Reports and didn’t happen to me for years (maybe because I’m not using Reports anymore )

I was a fan of Ad-Hoc but I’ve switched to Workspace 100%. This tool changed our life as a Digital Analytics team since it’s a lot easier to use by business users, which means we can focus on advanced analysis or just build a template for them when they struggle.

Of course it’s not perfect and it still lacks a bit of performance for heavy reports and a bit of governance to manage hundreds of projects that everyone is creating. I’m not fan of the tagging system for this.

I’ve been following the « do not retire please » discussion in the past days and I think the most important missing features have been discussed already.

Oh and by the way, you can now copy directly the data from Workspace now.

Just my $0.02

Eric

[evans46331181]

Thanks good to hear you can copy data directly in Workspace.  But the fact remains that a web based interface will be slower than Ad Hoc and it won’t have all of the functionality of Ad Hoc.

[jen_lasser]

We are continually focused on improving performance of Workspace. I'd love to setup time with you to see what performance issues you face today, and talk about some of the improvements we have planned that may help. Please DM me your email address if you are up for discussing. Thanks!

[katiem5932052]

I just up-voted the already existing idea: Workspace to FTP

[H_L]

Read from the notification, I saw the data said there's about only 8% are utilizing Ad Hoc analysis.

But I believe you also considered and understood about the user group, most of users might be business users, only small portions are real analysts and need to proceed deep-dive.

To me, Ad hoc analysis is a great tool to deep dive by using complicated combination of dimensions and segments, in analysts-friendly interface, the operation to copy and paste, drag and drop multi-segments, data granularities to another new created tab is good, I also can create many tabs and operating in one while waiting for others "retrieving data".

In Adhoc, I can also easily "create segment" in one tab (report), drag and drop easily, do the validation, and save the one I want among all the created test segments.

AND the SITE ANALYSIS is super helpful.

I tried to convert some reports in Adhoc to Workspace, frankly speak, the result is not that well.

But sure, the web version of workspace is great as well, e.g., the "flow" chart if more easy to read. But it requires the Browser's performance as well, so when I did complicate table in web-version, I always get "not-responding" and have to wait for a while.

Comparing with "web version workspace", I can easily to adjust the template in Ad hoc once any changes is required after look into "exported" report from Ad Hoc.

I would say, the web-version is a good visualized tool to common business users or decision makers to read the dashboard, but the ad-hoc is an essential tool, vital to deep-dive, to complicated analysis.

The deep-dive analysis job is complicate enough, many dimensions and aspects need to consider,

so,

why make another complex at "operation" level in analysts' daily work?

I hope to keep "Ad hoc" alive, or any other plans, other than web-version workspace.

Remember, it's named: Adobe ad hoc analysis or Adobe Discover, but not Adobe Track and Report.

Thanks in advance for the consideration.

[ashert33772002]

I have found that the lack of people using Ad Hoc is do to people not knowing about. I have talked to many analyst at different companies (some at the Adobe Summit in Vegas) and they did not even know about Ad Hoc. The low usage is likely due to lack of communication that the tool even existed.

To me this sums up the tools nicely. It's about using the right tool for the right job and Workspace is not the right tool for deep and complicated analysis.

[jen_lasser]

Looking forward to showing you some of the deeper analysis building options we have planned, and getting your feedback!

[evans46331181]

Adobe dismissed Ad Hoc as an unnecessary tool because only 8 percent of the users were using the tool.

You would think that Adobe would know eight percent of their users is statistically significant.  It will be a small but very loyal segment that will not want to migrate to an inferior product.

What is the cost savings for Adobe for eliminating Ad Hoc Analysis?  We understand the need for cost savings but please look for your savings elsewhere, not in analytics.

[H_L]

feel same here.

even some companies / users know it, they use it only as a "track and report" tool, or a tool to "grab" the data / counts, but not "analysis".

[jen_lasser]

Thank you for all this feedback! Below are some responses to your comments:

> Multi-threading in Ad Hoc is a big benefit; we have some ideas on how we can enable multi-tasking behaviors in the browser as well and will continue to pursue those ideas.

> Re: segment creation, you can create quick, temporary segments in Workspace as well & only save the ones you need. Here's a video on how it works: Segment Drop Zone Improvements in Analysis Workspace - YouTube

> Re: Site Analysis, we are not planning on bringing this into Workspace at the moment. Please log this idea in the forums so we can assess the demand & re-prioritize if needed: Analysis Workspace - Ideas

> If you are having issues with the project converter, please file those with Customer Care and provide the error codes you are getting. We are committed to working through any issues you encounter so you can get your project converted, no matter the complexity.

> We are working on a table builder-like solution that will enable you to more easily build complex, deep-dive queries in Workspace. I'd love to get you involved in future rounds of research for that feature. Please DM me your email address if interested.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

[H_L]

Thanks for your reply.

But the content about "segment" is not what I mentioned, sorry I did not clarify clearly.

Let me take a example:

When I try to create correct sequential segment for business users, several tests are required,

1. create a segment first,

2. drag e.g. 3.A.... to "segment" area > change the criteria > drag and drop back to 4.A... or 5.A...

3. Do the comparison and validate data among segments: 3.A..., 4. A..., 5.A...

4. If the result does not satisfy me, I'll change the criteria, drop one more segment, e.g. 6.A...and test again,

5. until the one we need, e.g. 6.A..., I will right click it and click Edit, then "save as", as the formal Segment to Business User.

I didn't see such process could easily be done in Workspace.

And, sorry but frankly speak, it seems to me that's not possible to make the performance comparable of a "web-browser based app" and a  "Java Platform based" one.

No matter how architecture / coding etc. are optimized, the network status is out of developer's control.

Try to image, loading whole UI (Layout, Color, Charts) through network, or loading only the data, (but interpret the data by using the local disk app), based on my limited knowledge, I'll say latter one is faster.

Again, web-based version is a great one, but to me, Adhoc offers rapid responding, easy to operate and more professional experience.

It seems not a "intention" to EOL, but already decision made.

So, all of my/our input will not help to change the "intention", but give more idea in "web based version".

Sorry to feel that.

[ryand17293691]

I agree wholeheartedly here.  I've trained close to a hundred stakeholders with their own fresh new Reports and Analytics access over the years. All they do once in a while is log on to check a number here or there.  Then when they want any real analysis done they reach back out to my team to do the heavy lifting, and we all use Adhoc.  Point being, i think those stakeholders are skewing your results.

Furthermore Adhoc is the tool that I feel sets you apart from your competition.  I'm comfortable in Reports & Analytics, as well as Workspace, but whenever I'm investigation a problem I always start in Adhoc, by far my comfort zone and the most powerful and time efficient.

I truly hope this doesn't happen.

[evans46331181]

This is all about a cost savings for Adobe which is very unfortunate.  Yes just 8 percen of users use Ad Hoc, but they are the power adobe analysts who now will need to work with a tool made for the masses.  Might as well switch over to Google Analytics then if we have no say in keeping this tool.  Thanks Adobe.

[pennypei8541670]

This is devastating, I just developed a whole lot of web metrics reports using data downloaded from Adhoc Analysis. The workspace won't allow me to download 50K+ row of urls, will it? Could you tell me what other tools I could use to download large number of data?

[jen_lasser]

Thanks for your feedback! We are working on allowing you to export larger amounts of data from Workspace, before AHA access ends. Until access ends, you can continue to use AHA, or use Data Warehouse (which exports all rows, and doesn't have the 50K restriction). Data Warehouse is available under the Tools menu. Hope that helps!

[reportb97074628]

Adobe needs to reconsider this decision.  There is NO POSSIBILITY that Workspace will be an adequate replacement for Ad Hoc Analysis. 

As others have noted, manipulating the data using Java is much quicker than a web-based product ever will be.

What is the cost-savings for Adobe for eliminating their power-analysis product?

[billpress]

Is this a cruel joke??!

[AndrewChunis]

I see Workspace more as another reporting application, it's not a replacement for Ad-Hoc. It's sort of a half way point between Ad-Hoc and Reports and Analytics. Where, if I were to desire to, I could make my discovery in Ad-Hoc and export the reports to Workspace as a distribution tool. 

We don't need another report builder – we can do that outside of Adobe with a variety of applications, but we do need a discovery tool. Ad-Hoc allows you to quickly duplicate a report to drill down different dimensions, add different segments, compare different metrics to make discoveries and insights and stress test the results. In discovery I will frequently max out every report tab of every workspace tab, labeling them all along the way to refer back to. Also it allows you to easily create Segments and Calculated Metrics which I can then bring into report builder for customized dashboards that can involve things like retention rates at different steps, fall out rates, user pathing, etc. Using the Web tool I simply wouldn't have the amount of time necessary to create the amount of calculated metrics to use the report builder tool effectively.

I fear this move could reduce Adobe Analytics’ capabilities to vanity metrics. Visits year over year, visits by channel, visits by device, a basic fallout report, etc. Sure, I can use the Workspace platform as a report distribution tool. But my actionable insights would likely have to come from another analytics application. And since that’s the case I might as well just load the data I need into Tableau for my data visualization, further alienating the actual analysis from Adobe. I can see why from a “Looking Down” perspective that Adobe would think they are duplicating their efforts supporting both Ad-Hoc and Workspace, but I think the majority of users would prefer to see better integrations between the two platforms.

[billpress]

Well said Andrew.  Ad Hoc is what makes Adobe Analytics stand out as a peer without equal when it comes to analysis.

I'm sure the penny counters at Adobe think this is a great move but they are gravely mistaken.

[ashert33772002]

I will second that opinion. One thing Adobe has taught me is to use the right tool for the right job. Ad Hoc is still the right tool for active analysis.

Worskspace is a nice addition and upgrade to Reports and Analytics and the visualization tools