[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

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Here is some official documentation about Report Builder:

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/analytics/analyze/report-builder/home

Note that your account will have to have the "Report Builder" permissions in order to use it, even if you are able to install the extension into Excel, you have to log into Adobe through the extension and missing permissions will not allow you to continue.

Report Builder interface can be a bit interesting to use, and it's design stems from the old "Report and Analytics" days, making correlating props and eVars not possible (we all have hopes that newer version of the extension would finally allow this). If you do use it, you will notice that the Request Wizard is quite segmented... so sometimes it can be harder to find what you need, but like any tool, the more you use it, the easier it becomes to navigate.

One of the reasons I really like this tool is the ability to stitch together data from multiple suites (basically pull data from different suites, then combine it using Excel formulas into my "final report areas".

Another thing that I do, that is often overlooked, is the ability to have better date range control...  While the Workspace Date Range is pretty good, sometimes you still can't get the range you need (one such example would be fiscal quarters for your organization).

Now, instead of using the "preset dates" or locking myself into a set date range, I use the "Dates from Cells" feature, then use Excel to either "set the date manually into a cell, or better yet, use Excel date formulas to create the dates using complex logic...

For instance, I have a YoY report... it comes on on the 1st of the month, for "this year up to the end of last month", and the "previous year for the same range".... but on Jan 1, I would end up with no data... so I created some additional logic to check if it's currently Jan, then pull all of last year, and the all of the year before.... otherwise, get Jan to end of last full month (which would be just Jan when the report goes out in Feb, or Jan and Feb for the report that goes out in March, etc). This is one logic that the date ranges in Adobe really need.

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Wow, thank you for that elaborate explanation, @Jennifer_Dungan! The use cases you mentioned - multiple report suites and better date range control are applicable to our set up here and very helpful for me to start playing around with right away. 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Glad I could throw in some relevant use cases that you can dig into right away.

Just note that adding up metrics like Visits or Unique Visitors across suites will result in some inflation (people who use both), but that would happen either way.

Another thing that I will also do, even within a single suite, is make multiple calls... one for a breakdown, and a second for the "total", so that I'm not caught by the "duplication" factors.

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan I took the Report Builder for a ride and created a report for one report suite. The metrics I used were Visits, Page views, Average time on page by Page. I found a few things:

1. There was quite a discrepancy between what I see on Workspace report vs. Report Builder report. I had it broken down by month so I compared page by page for the same month. I know it's hard to troubleshoot without the actual report but does anything come to mind? I noticed it says Top pages 1-10 so I extended it to 1-50. I wanted to see all the pages in the report.

2. The subtotal worked fine but there was no such option for overall average like the Workspace interface shows rolled up for all the pages on top with other totals.

3. You mentioned we could run reports for multiple report suites in one, how do you execute that? Do you hit create and select another tab/cell and pick another report suite? I didn't see an option to multi-select report suites in the Request Wizard.

Thank you.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi @Tanu_Tiwari,

I haven't noticed any big discrepancies... were you seeing the difference on each page? Or the total was different? You may have more than 50 pages in Adobe, so that could have a big impact on the totals.....

Most calculated metrics aren't available in Workspace, you will have to use Excel math functions for that... so for something like Page Views, adding up the column to get the total should be fine... but Visits or Unique Visitors won't be de-duplicated...  hence why I mentioned making a second call to get the total...

In Report Builder, you will have to create calls for each variation you need.... It may also help to create a segment that you can use to help define what should be pulled back by each call...

So let's say I have:

Page 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5....

I might create a segment for these pages, then I would create a RB request (using that segment) and pull back the itemized pages.... then I would create a second request (using the same segment) to pull back the aggregate totals.

Now if I want to do an average, I would use an Excel formula to take the value for each page, divided by the aggregate total for the selected metric.

 And this leads into the "multiple reports"... you have to create a request for each suite. Get your isolated "raw data" for each, then use Excel to join them....

If for instance you have a web and app suites (2 suites, but the page names are the same), you might want to use an Excel VLOOKUP formula to find the corresponding match and join them together..... or do a simple aggregate addition on the "totals" requests for each suite....

Depending on the complexity of what you are doing, you can have "raw data" tabs for each suite, or you can pull into the same tab (using different columns or rows (depending on what your output looks like). Report Builder should warn you if there is going to be a cell conflict.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I should mention, my "network" report is basically 33 sites (and uses 150 requests.....  30 of those sites share the same suite)... but the information and granularities that I have to pull require me to split my requests up to get the variations that I need...

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Thank you, Jen. Makes a lot of sense now. I am also in the process of exploring data feeds and ran into some issues with SFTP because our internal set up. I believe they recommend a cloud account now and not the legacy options. So, I was trying to see if report builder could be an interim solution. I see how it is supposed to be utilized as a combination of raw data and excel manipulation. Thanks for clarifying.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

You're welcome. Each tool has its own strengths, and weaknesses....

Keep in mind, while I call the RB requests "raw data", they are still processed data from Adobe...

My Report Builder reports generally bring data into sheets that will be hidden. I call them "raw data" simply because I haven't done any Excel magic / cleanup on that data.... I use Excel to format, matchup, graph, etc (pulling the content from those hidden sheets) to create my "pretty" reports that my audience will actually see.

[diana_choksey]

Thanks so much for sharing this -- very helpful indeed!  Do you know if the Sandbox version of AA will have access to the report builder? 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I doubt the sandbox will have this added permission unfortunately, but I don't know for sure.

[Abhishek_Dubey]

Thank you @Jennifer_Dungan for the breif breakup, I have planned to pick up atleast 2 of the sections during the weekend to go through (sadly my schedule is not allowing me to do it during weekdays), anyways I am going to paste my queries here once done.

Just to let you know i have recently started exploring the Report builder addon (due to a project's requirement), I hope the section helps me for understanding the tool better.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

No worries on your availability @Abhishek_Dubey. We have several weeks for this program, so we have plenty of time to work around schedules. 

And as for Report Builder, while it doesn't seem to be "officially" on the certification topics, I'm more than happy to help you all with that tool, as I think it's a really important part of the toolkit, and really, part of this program is to help you get comfortable with the tools, not just to pass an exam.

[diana_choksey]

It sounds like Report Builder is extremely pertinent, especially for connecting data from other sources. I'd be interested in a short review of the tool for sure! Thanks for offering

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Section 2: Reporting and dashboarding for projects (38%)

Reply to this thread directly with questions, concerns, or discussion points relative to section 2.

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

Like in section 1, the we seem to be presented with some out of date information:

This is an interesting one... while the legacy Scheduled Reports is sunset, the Scheduled Projects is certainly alive and well, and if you are familiar with Report Builder, you know that those scheduled reports used to sit inside the Scheduled Reports area.... don't worry, this still exists, it's just been moved to it's own dedicated area: ARB Scheduled Reports (which is slightly inconvenient to get to: Components > All Components, then found under "Project & Reports")

Analysis Workspace makes an appearance in this module (I guess it had to show up somewhere.... though in place of the sunset tool would have made a lot more sense).

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Section 3: Segmentation and calculated metrics (19%)

Reply to this thread directly with questions, concerns, or discussion points relative to section 3.

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

Looks like Section 3 is all current and relevant information at a first pass, so I have nothing of note to flag at this time; but we will dig into details as everyone is ready to jump into the module.

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Thank you for the great Skills Exchange session,@Jennifer_Dungan! I think I am still a bit confused about the exclude vs. does not contain bit. Would you be able to share some more detail on that one? Thank you.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hey @Tanu_Tiwari, absolutely!

Let's say we have these visits:

Visit 1

• home
• section
• product

Visit 2

• home
• section

Visit 3

• home
• product

Visit 4

• product

Let's say we want to exclude visits that hit a Product page (i.e. Visits 1, 3 and 4)

If you were to use a segment like:

VISIT

    page type does not equal product

In visit 1, "home" and "section" don't equal "product", and visit 3 "home" doesn't equal "product" (of course along with all pages in Visit 2 where neither page equals "product"). Only Visit 4, which is only product will be removed from the data set.

So now, if you do this segment:

VISIT (exclude)

    page type equals product

Visits 1, 2 and 4 all have a hit that equals "product" (there are other hits as well, but it's already found a match), now that those visits are identified, the exclusion tells Adobe to not return them or any of their data.

I hope this makes sense?

[Tanu_Tiwari]

Thank you, had to read it a few times. Totally makes sense

[diana_choksey]

**Spoiler Alert: I reference a question from the practice exam here. If you haven't yet taken it and don't want to preview a potential answer, please do not read this post." 

Hi Tanu, 
I just came across a question from the practice exam that threw me off a little as well (with regards to exclusion). "A manager at XYZ company has requested an extract of Order IDs where Item A was placed but Item B was not." If the condition is met, then the customers are eligible for cash back in wallets. The analyst needs to create a segment but is having challenges with data extraction. Which two issues may have caused this problem?  
A. The segment was created at a visit level, not a hit level.
B. The segment was created by excluding orders consisting of Items B. 
C. The analyst doesn't have access to data workbench.
D. The analyst made use of sequential containers within the segment. 

The answer is B and D. 

B. because if the analyst excluded orders consisting of B, then the segment may include orders consisting of item A and of any other items as well (e.g. C, D, E, F etc.). 
D. If the analyst made use of sequential containers, within the segment, then if a customer ordered another item (let's say D) first and then ordered A then the segment would not include items with order A. 

@Jennifer_Dungan can you confirm my reasoning please? 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Wow.... what a question... 

Now the request itself is a bit nebulous, and honestly, if I got such a request I would reach out to the person for more details.

---

an extract of Order IDs where Item A was placed but Item B was not.

---

From this, first I would assume that they are talking about in the same order, but what about someone who quickly follows up with a purchase of B? Should that be taken into account? Let's assume same order, as it's the most likely....

However, based on that assumption, all of the above could have an effect.

A. The segment was created at a visit level, not a hit level.

Well if we are pulling back Order IDs (same hit), then the segment would have to be at the hit level to meet the criteria.. using a visit scope would look at multiple orders in the same visit... which could consist of "just A", "A and B", "A then later B", "B then later A", etc.... but the last two would be two separate Orders, but the same Visit...  the requirements are not clear about this scenario.... So I would say that this should be a potential problem.

B. The segment was created by excluding orders consisting of Items B. 

Excluding Hits that include B would be what you want to do... but it still needs to be in conjunction with other logic, something like:

Hit
    Order ID exists

    Product equals A

    AND

    EXCLUDE

         Product equals B

This should get you the Orders where there is only A (and any other products) so long as B isn't included. (The inclusion a C, D, E, etc wasn't mentioned as being a factor)

But, if ONLY B was excluded, then yes, that would include Orders that don't have A..  Its not totally clear what this answer entails... if it's only the Exclude (and given the simplistic nature, let's assume that it is), then yes, this could be a potential issue.

C. The analyst doesn't have access to data workbench.

Well access issues would technically be a factor for getting data back.. not necessarily access to "Data Workbench".. you might laugh, but I have seen tickets from people who complained that some feature in the backend "didn't work", and after spending a lot of back and forth emails with them, the issue was that they couldn't log into the system..... 

But I think in this context, this is not the answer they are looking for..... 

D. The analyst made use of sequential containers within the segment. 

Well again, yes... if the requirements is "on the same order" then a sequence wouldn't make sense... and going by that bare minimum request, this would certainly be a red flag in my book. Same as option A, which is looking at a Visit and not the individual hit....

[diana_choksey]

Hi @Jennifer_Dungan 
I'm trying to figure out how to parse this page, it's a little too much for me to wrap my brain around. Not sure which Section this belongs in, probably section 3.

Reference advanced functions | Adobe Analytics