[Mentor Jennifer Dungan] Adobe Analytics Community Mentorship Program 2024

[seanrobinson]

Hello Team,

Welcome to the Adobe Analytics Community Mentorship Program 2024! This is the featured Community Discussion thread for your Adobe Analytics Community Mentor, Jennifer Dungan (aka @Jennifer_Dungan), who will be here to guide and support you and your peers with your Adobe Analytics questions as you prepare for the Adobe Analytics Business Practitioner Professional Certification (Exam ID: AD0-E212), through to the end of the program. 

Aspirants mapped to Mentor, Jennifer, @Jennifer_Dungan

1. TanuTiwari
2. Abhishek_Dubey
3. BhudevSahu
4. Venky5080
5. AndrewEv1
6. shourya verma
7. seanrobinson
8. agajadhar
9. diana_choksey

How to participate 

1. Aspirants’ goal is to clear their Adobe Analytics Certification during the duration of the program: July 24th, 2024 – September 4th, 2024.
2. Aspirants: Post your Questions in this thread to connect with Mentor, Jennifer, @Jennifer_Dungan and your fellow Aspirant peers.  *You are all preparing for the same Certification, so feel free to use this space to share what you’re learning and collaborate! 

Suggested Next Steps for Aspirants:

• Update your Community Profile photo with your latest headshot so that you can stand out to your Mentor and Peer Aspirants.
• "Like" this thread to confirm your participation in the program
• Introduce yourself to Jennifer and your Aspirant peers by Replying to this Thread! Break the ice by introducing yourself (location, org/ company, etc.) and your experience with/ interest in Adobe Analytics  
• Post your Questions to this thread as you begin learning more about the Adobe Analytics Business Practitioner Professional Certification (Exam ID: AD0-E212)
• Test your Analytics knowledge by browsing through the Adobe Analytics Community Questions and taking your best shot at answering some Qs!
• Remember that every post / like / comment you make in your contextual thread and in the Analytics Community throughout the duration of the program helps increase your chance to be recognized by your Mentor and win exclusive Adobe swag, so bring your best efforts!

Quick links 

• Program Link
• Certifications Link

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Woohoo! Thank you for this discussion thread. Nice to meet you, Jennifer and fellow team members. My name is Tanu Tiwari and I am leading the Data & Analytics team for Products & Technology Marketing team at PwC. I am based in SF Bay, California. I have been working with Adobe Analytics for about 2 years but not very extensively. I am looking forward to getting certified so I could utilize AA to its full potential and implement reporting improvements for our team.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi @Tanu_Tiwari, it's nice to meet you! 2 years sounds like a good starting base (I am sure that will be more than some people here), and I bet you know more than you think you do! 

By the end of this, I will strive to ensure that you feel confident in your own skills and knowledge to create improvements for your team. Like most things in life, there is always more to learn, but hopefully this will also help give you insights on how to continue learning beyond this session (and of course, there is always people on Experience League who are willing to help out).

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hello Everyone,

It's a pleasure to meet everyone and I look forward to making this a successful program!

A little bit about me:

I work for Torstar, which is a newspaper company located in Toronto, Canada. I've been with the company for about 17 years, where I started as a web developer, moved into QA, then finally just took over all the analytics. I've used Adobe Analytics at all stages of my career here, but I also am in charge of the Google Analytics and Parse.ly Analytics.

While this will obviously focus on Adobe, if any of you are coming from a GA background, let me know and I can try to frame content / answers as parallels between the two programs if that will help to solidify the concepts we are going to cover.

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Wow! You must have some interesting perspective on all things Analytics. I used to be a big Universal GA user, being a Xoogler, but since GA4 was introduced, I could never fully adopt it. We didn't do GA 360 where I worked. The capabilities I see with AA is like a breath of fresh air! Thank you for mentoring us.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I've never used GA360... it seems more like a few extra params, a few more metrics, a little bit more character length, and maybe one or two features that people may or may not use.... and access to Big Query so that you can actually do anything of meaning....

I've used free, both UA and GA4.... what I like about GA4... finally having "event based" tracking and parameters that can be attached to any event... that is all.

It doesn't help that I started with AA (so I was spoiled from the start), but I know I've shown people who came from the GA world what they can do with AA, and more of them were like "I never want to go back to GA...." hahah.

Funny enough, GA4s event-based tracking actually has a lot more in common with Adobe... it's just so dang clunky... 

[Abhishek_Dubey]

Hello Everyone & @Jennifer_Dungan ,

Pleasure e-meeting everyone & excited to be part of this team.

My name is Abhishek Dubey. I have accumulated 7 years of experience in the digital marketing domain, taking on various roles and responsibilities. My career began as a web developer, a role I held for one year. Subsequently, I had the opportunity to join Accenture as an AEM Author, where I spent three years before progressing to a more senior role as an AEM SME.

Over two years ago, I advanced to the position of Team Lead and Web Operations Consultant (Development, SEO, Accessibility, Automation, and Analytics). Although Adobe Analytics was part of my daily responsibilities as one of my KPI included finding opportunities in user experience optimizations for the client backed by data which can then be utilized for personalizations using Adobe Target however my focus was divided among other areas due to the role. This led me to take a leap of faith and fully immerse myself in Adobe Analytics.

For the past year, I have been working with PlanNet Technest India as a full-time Digital Analyst Consultant. In this role, I am primarily responsible a System Administrator (which allows me to delve into Data Warehouse/Feeds, User Management, Report Suite Creations, Classifications, and API Management etc) along with Reporting-dashboarding. I have recently started to get my hands dirty on Launch implementations as well.

I am hoping to learn a lot, improve as well as expand my understanding about Analytics and complete my certification and to be honest I am super excited to be your mentee @Jennifer_Dungan (you have some amazing acomplishments & level of knowledge which are clearly depicted with all badges earned, questions answered, ideas added etc)

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Welcome to the Team @Abhishek_Dubey it sounds like you have had an interesting history as well, I will do my best to help you succeed in your goals!

[seanrobinson]

Hi everyone, I'm Sean (the guy you saw in the kickoff meeting last week). I'll be joining all of you in this group as a learner, and I'm really excited to work towards my certification! 

I'm in Salt Lake City, Utah, with a MA in art history and an MBA, and currently work at Adobe. I use Analytics regularly for my job, but I'm far from a power user, so I'm keen to learn more and get certified. Thanks for leading us here @Jennifer_Dungan, we're all very lucky to have you guiding us on this experience! Looking forward to connecting more with everyone else here.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

It's great to have you on board @seanrobinson! It's great that you are taking the initiative to learn more about the tools that you manager here in the forum (also no pressure on me or anything to have our ExL Manager as part of our cohort! I joke of course)

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hello All,

Just in case you missed it, all the learning materials for this mentorship program will be available through the Exam Prep Guide, linked from the Certificate Details page (https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/certification/program/technical-certifications/aa/aa-prof...)

This is an interactive course, which I will be reviewing myself so that I can stay in line with what you all will be learning, and so that we can have discussions on the same page. However, since this is an interactive course, and not a "module posted by me" per week, we'll likely be sitting at slightly different steps from one another.

For those of you that wish, by all means, go through the whole course up front, and then you can re-review those sections as we get into our Quizzes and Discussions; but I also understand the reality of having a busy life and that sometimes other stuff takes priority.

If you feel like you are falling behind, don't worry, I will be here for you when you are ready, to ensure you get the most out of this program!

In a nutshell, the course is broken into four main sections:

1. Section 1: Business analysis (34%)
   • Given a business need/question, identify an appropriate reporting strategy to perform an analysis
   • Analyze data to answer business questions
   • Identify conversion funnels (as a concept to understand business analysis)
   • Consult the Solution Design Reference (SDR) to determine what data is available in reports
   • Analyze report data to summarize and draw conclusions
   • Recognize outliers and anomalies in reports
2. Section 2: Reporting and dashboarding for projects (38%)
   • Consider the advantages of using specific visualizations based on a given scenario
   • Compare fallout and flow visualization
   • Apply the process to schedule and share Projects for different users and/or groups
   • Apply the process to look up and combine dimensions, metrics, date ranges, and segments
   • Apply the process to create a visualization
   • Given a scenario, determine the appropriate item to use
   • Report on marketing campaign performance
3. Section 3: Segmentation and calculated metrics (19%)
   • Determine how to develop and configure basic segments using best practices
   • Apply the process to share segments with others in the organization
   • Apply segments to Projects and Components
   • Apply the process to generate basic calculated and/or segmented metrics
4. Section 4: General tool knowledge and troubleshooting (9%) 
   • Understand different types of dimensions and parameters existing in Adobe Analytics (eVars, props, and events)
   • Determine how to export data from Adobe Analytics

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Thank you. I did Analytics 1 and 2 live trainings and currently on section 3 of this Exam Prep Guide. I have to say those articles keep going deeper and deeper with hyperlinks into more details. For example, the statistical details of anomaly detection and the logic behind the algorithm was a rabbit hole I went down and wondered how deep I should be going for this exam. Any insights would be appreciated @Jennifer_Dungan 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Lol, see it's a good thing I moved ahead instead of a "module per week".

The anomaly detection is an odd one... a lot of the "in-depth" calculations on this one aren't very well disclosed... nor do you have a lot of control over what is considered an anomaly... 

To be completely honest, this is one of the tools I don't actually use... but, I also work for a Newspaper, so our traffic can be quite volatile depending on what is happening in the news... it doesn't follow something like a "standard seasonality" that something like a retailer might have.... For instance, Elections; which of course we have the standard 4 years for our American neighbours to the south which we cover. Then there is the Canadian Elections which don't follow a specific pattern... while it has to occur at least every 4 years, elections here can be called early if the party feels they are in a strong position to win the vote, or can be called if collectively the other parties call for a non-confidence motion for current government. So it's a bit of a strange landscape when it comes to politics. Then of course, there are other events like the Olympics, but even those shift around slightly to accommodate the host country (but even at that, I don't believe that Adobe can accurately anticipate 4 year cycles for Winter and Summer games), and then there are just random stories that go viral.... 

Suffice it to say, I haven't found that particular feature terribly helpful for my situation... yours however, may be a more stable model.

I would expect that the Exam would keep Anomaly Detection questions fairly high level at any rate... since again, most of that logic isn't really detailed how it was determined.

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Thank you! It's a relief to hear that it won't be too technical and more high level. 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

It really shouldn't be.. it's aimed at Business Users after all, but that said, once you feel comfortable with the material take the practice test and get a sense of how technical the questions appear to be....

If the question seem to come out of left field then we can discuss them and try to find a way to anticipate what the real test will likely cover.

[diana_choksey]

Thanks Jennifer and thanks Tanu for bringing this up. I too had the same question about how deep we should be going into the hyperlinks and materials. It's a relief to know that Anomaly Detection questions will be fairly at a high level. 

On a related note, regarding the materials, do you think the LinkedIn Learning (LL) courses will also help with exam prep? From my short preview of the modules, LL seems to provide a more hands on experience esp. in the Sandbox environment. I don't mean to move away from the Adobe offered materials, but just wondering if anyone has checked LL's course offerings out.  

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi @diana_choksey,

I think taking the LinkedIn Learning course is a fantastic idea. The more hands on practice you have, the better the material will understood... it's one thing to read a document explaining how something works, and actually seeing how it works.

As for "I don't mean to move away from the Adobe offered materials" I wouldn't worry too much about that... the LL course is taught by Eric Matisoff who is one of the primary Analytic Evangelists at Adobe, so I know the course material will be a good fit.

[diana_choksey]

Awesome! Thanks Jennifer! Great to hear.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Section 1: Business analysis (34%)

I am going to try and keep threads of discussions organized by each of the main modules. Reply to this thread directly with questions, concerns, or discussion points relative to this section.

--------------------------

I've only just started reviewing the course material myself, and I would like to flag that the first thing it seems to cover is Data Workbench... which is somewhat ironic, given this product was sunset last December:

There is also a section near the end of the first module for Reports and Analytics, another sunset feature:

That said, since I don't know exactly what might be covered in the final exam, it's probably in your best interest to review the tool, even if only to understand the historical progression of the Adobe Tools.

Analysis Workspace is the current primary interface for accessing your reporting data, which, while not listed directly, is essentially the tool used in the primary visualizations within the module. Another valuable tool which seems to be absent is Report Builder, which is an Excel add-on which allows you to pull data directly from Adobe into Excel (windows only at this time I am afraid... we are all hoping for a new release of this tool similar to the one made for CJA which can work on PC and Mac, and has a cleaner, more updated interface.... ). 

While there is no guarantee that Report Builder will be covered in the course / exam, it would be silly for us to overlook it. While it may not help you pass your certifications, if your goal is to really understand the tools and what is available to you, I would be happy to spend some time reviewing this interface and why it's still relevant to use today. Let me know if this is of interest to you, as I want to be sure my time is well spent before diving into this.

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Thanks for the heads up, Jennifer. I would love to know about the Report Builder excel add-on. Is there a Help Center article you could point us to. I don't mind playing around with it in my own free time.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Yes, I will find some good resources for Report Builder and post them here (and possibly augment with details of my own). In the coming weeks I will also try to find additional resources for the course material (even what is covered) to ensure you all have multiple perspectives on these tools.

I really just wanted to get some ground work set up so that if people are working ahead they have an organized place to start posting questions.