App & www data in one project

[Michael_Soprano]

Hi, 

is it possible to analyze data from both an app and a website within a single AA project? My understanding is that this capability might be a key distinction between AA and CJA, as I recall that it might not be possible in AA. However, I'm not an expert in AA. Could you provide some clarification on this?

[kayawalton]

Hi @Michael_Soprano --

There are two possibilities for combining www and app data within one AA Workspace project:

• If www and app data are in two separate report suites, you can still show data for both within one AA Workspace project, but you cannot combine them within one panel.
• You can roll www and app data up into one report suite, but you would have to set this up at implementation. Note that there will be dimensions (such as URLs and app versions) and metrics (launches, downloads) that may not align across platforms, and you would have to make sure that the common dimensions are aligned. (For example, if eVar1 for www data is page title, it has to be page title for eVar1 for app data.)

In CJA, your www and app data can be collected in two separate report suites with different schemas as datasets. You will have to do some setup in aligning the components. For example, if you are collecting www page title as eVar1 and app page title as eVar 2, you will have to use AEP Data Prep to merge them into one field. Once you've cleaned up the components, you can create a connection that combines the two datasets and create a data view for that combined data to use in CJA Workspace.

So yes, it is possible to have www and app data in one Workspace project for both AA and CJA. CJA just makes it easier if you are already collecting this data in two separate report suites.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

We have been tracking our websites and apps into a single global suite for years, it is not only possible, it's technically the recommended implementation since you can use Virtual Report Suites to separate out the content into whatever groupings you need. Of course, ensuring consistency between your site and apps can be a lot of work, but with proper diligence it's perfectly achievable.  In fact, we have 30 websites all with "core" www versions and multiple extended content subdomains, and 3 of those websites have mobile apps; all being tracked into our one global tracking suite.

Most pages in our apps correspond to pages on our website, and we track our core values, such as pageName, pageURL and many of our custom dimensions identically across both platforms. For pages/screens that exist solely in the app, we track a fake URL, and follow our pageName conventions to ensure consistency across platforms. We have a few dimensions such as "breakpoint" which will track the website breakpoint experience (desktop, mobile or table) and the app experience (app|mobile or app|tablet). We also track the site type - i.e. "core" vs "app" vs "extended content x" in another dimensions.  There are some other "app only" dimensions and metrics, as @kayawalton mentioned, both out of the box, and also things that only apply to our apps such as light/dark mode and font size (at least they apply only to apps at this time, but could easily be added to the web in the future)

So for instance, if I need to see Article X, I can pull by any of our standard dimensions, then I can break it down by the site type, or the breakpoint experience, or even by site (since many of our articles are syndicated to multiple sites). I have a core set of segments to pull out our "core website", "mobile apps", etc, and I also have created a network of virtual report suites to make it easier for business to access the content they need ("site X core site", "site x core plus app", "site x plus all externals", "mobile apps", "external y", etc).

If you are just starting to investigate this, you can try setting up a small sample dev suite, and testing out how the data is collected between web and app, and play with building out reports.

[k6ivupuu_k]

The same implementation for us. App and web run into the same suite. Use virtual suites to separate if needed.

[Nick_Walter]

As other have said having both in the same suite is commonly used for this. To take it a step farther, Adobe does have a product called Cross Channel Analytics in CJA which stiches data from different platforms like web and ab together into one "person". You can even pull in offline data and it can be stitched as well.
Here is an overview from Adobe: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/analytics-platform/using/stitching/overview