Workspace "Compare" columns with more flexibility

[#1]

I currently love and use the "Compare Time Periods" option frequently, but it only works in certain situations (for instance, it isn't an option if I have "days" as a dimension in the report), and I can't drag in Time Periods I've already created. I frequently want that sort of "compare" functionality on all sorts of different columns.

What I would love is to always be able to create a column that compares two other columns in the table. Summary change is nice but not if you have a lot of items in the report to compare. Quick calculated metrics and such are nice but don't give you flexibility with time periods.

[#2]

To show some examples:

Currently, if I right click on a column (in certain circumstances), I get a "Compare Time Periods" report. I have a few clients that use this feature A LOT. When you do, you end with something like this, where a column appears to the left with a date range over it (which I can re-create in other ways), and a column to the right with a percent change between the two (which is what I WANT to be able to create in other ways):

There are a few critical limitations with this feature currently. First, if I swap out that purple date range on the left column for a different range, the "Percent Change" column on the right doesn't update. Here I replaced Feb 2017 with "Last Year" (here is where it gets buggy- the data changed on the left but not the "percent changed" column on the right):

Also, if I currently have "day" as my main dimension, I completely lose the "Compare Time Periods" option. I can still "Add time period column":

But if I do that, I lose that precious "Percent Change" column:

[#3]

Another limitation with "Compare Time Periods": if I do "Compare Time Periods>This week last year to this time range":

It nicely goes back in time to the right week:

But if I update the date range on the panel, the comparison does not update:

...Making it very hard to create a dynamic, update-able report.

[#4]

Thanks for sharing the detailed examples, jkunz!

I have the same issue as you mentioned about changing the date period, then the percent change fails to update, which made me have to manually copy the table out to an excel spreadsheet to redo the % change in an excel. Adobe, please help to update this function!

[#5]

I would also very much like the ability to compare two columns of any kind of data, not limited to time periods. Today I find myself exporting data to Excel to do this. With this feature, I could do all of my reporting in Analytics. Some examples of columns I could compare are:

• Two domains, with a set of various metrics running down the rows
• Two A/B test experiences, with a set of metrics running down the rows
• Two key segments, such as "mobile" and "desktop" or "loyalty" and "non loyalty"

The "Segment Comparison" tool kind of does this today, but it would be great if we manually had the option to drag a "Percent Change" column to the right of two other columns to hand pick the columns we wanted to compare and the metrics we cared about.

Is this on the roadmap? It seems like the functionality is almost there, just in different forms... Thanks!

[#6]

Any update on this? It would be hugely valuable. I recently saw this video (Quick Calculated Metrics in Analysis Workspace - YouTube ) from Adobe that shows how you can kind of do ad hoc "% Change" for two given columns. But I found it to be really limiting and buggy. For instance, it doesn't seem to work if you have a segment in either the column or a row. Also, it doesn't seem to quite work with calculated metrics that create a percentage, like a conversion rate (orders/visits). Is this planned to be built out more, or even better maybe the "Difference Score" from the "Segment Comparison" could be added as a metric that you could drop to the right of any two columns?

Appreciate it!

P.S. I also have a thread going here (Coolest way to trend % change on Adobe Analytics | LinkedIn) and was wondering if there's a way to do this even with the special calculated metric functions. But right now it seems like you'd have to do this ad hoc for every segment and metric you wanted to compare.

[#7]

I have the same problem - if I update the date range on the panel, the comparison does not update either.

Does anyone have a solution for this bug yet?

Thank you in advance!

[#8]

Not sure if it is a bug, it's been like this ever since I've started using Adobe. I'd also really, Really would like this change. It is so tedious right now to work over comparing a lot of different time periods. Would be a huge time saver!

[#9]

Same here. Would LOVE this feature. It is just too tedious to try and work with date comparisons with Adobe today.

[#10]

Thank you everyone for your interest and comments on this thread.  There are many ideas being discussed here.  We have discussed many of them internally and have several on the roadmap already.  Unfortunately, they are not easy to solve in a generic way (which is why some of these things have appeared "buggy" - they actually are all working as designed for various reasons - but we understand that they do not always work ideally for your various use cases).  We know this comparison functionality is really important and key to your day-to-day work, so we will continue to consult internally and figure out how to prioritize which features.  Thanks for helping us understand the importance you have placed on this area of functionality.

[#11]

yes yes yes yes yes yes

Add comparison capabilities for entire column regardless of column objects (dimension, metric, segment, time). Configure as # diff or % diff or some other calculation. So valuable.