Global Report Suite including mobile app data

[fern1]

Hi!

We have a global report suite set to get data from all our websites. However, it was not including our app (it can redirect to our sites also). So I went to the report suite, enabled the app data, went to the app data collection property, and also added the global report suite there.

When I go to our report on analytics and try to create a flow using report suit as an entry point, the app report suite does not show there. Is there something else I should do? For the sites, we also mapped out the report suite as an eVar. Would that be the issue? that we don't have a report suite eVar set for the app?
If it is the later, how can I set an eVar for mobile app now that we don't have mobile services anymore? is it through launch like a website (after creating the eVar) or via RS using processing rules?

thanks in advance

[Jennifer_Dungan]

OK, so I have our websites and apps all loading into a global suite, so let's go through this one step at a time.

So I went to the report suite, enabled the app data, went to the app data collection property, and also added the global report suite there.

---

So if by this you mean, you went to Admin > Report Suites (chose the Suite), then Edit Settings > App Management > App Reporting (then enabled reporting for the SDK) - Good

And also, you added the suite into your Mobile SDK Launch Property, also Good

Next, I am not sure what you mean by

When I go to our report on analytics and try to create a flow using report suit as an entry point

---

What do you mean create a flow using "report suite" as an entry point.... all your data is in a single global report suite already... 

For the sites, we also mapped out the report suite as an eVar. 

---

Do you mean that you have an eVar called "report suite" which contains information such as "website1", "website2", "app1", etc - so that you can tell classify your traffic into segments?

If so, then you should have that, but as this is a custom eVar it shouldn't be required to see your app data... just for your segments to work... Unless you are specifically relying on a value to be set for your particular reporting (then potentially your flow may be impacted by having an "undefined" value - I have not seen your reporting, you would know better how your reports are built)

So, now we come to the details of mobile app tracking. In your mobile app, you don't set your eVars, props, etc directly, but rather you need to set context variables, then map those using Processing Rules (you can of course set a context variable like "evar5" and map the value 1 to 1 into your eVar5; or you can set more namespace type parts like "category" or "userId" or "searchTerm", etc, then map those (either alone or as concatenated values into your dimensions).

(Pro Tip, I like to have my developers create all context variables under a specific namespace "myapp.category" or "myapp.userId" - this way ALL the custom values are collected under one "myapp" namespace so that they are easier to distinguish from Adobe's own context variables)

So the first step to figuring out if your tracking is working is to test... Do you have Adobe Experience Platform Assurance (formerly Project Griffon) installed into your app?

https://developer.adobe.com/client-sdks/documentation/platform-assurance/

and here is a user group session on using this tool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jgNm_cggLM

IF you don't have that installed, testing is a lot harder, you have to use a tool like Charles or Fiddler, connect your device through a proxy connection to your computer and watch the raw data requests to make sure they are sending to Adobe (you cannot see Post-Processed values here)

I would recommend first testing to make sure that your app data is actually sending... 

Then if you aren't using Assurance, you will need to make sure that ALL your processing rules are configured to properly collect your data.... the tricky part here is waiting an hour to see the data appear in a report... and right now, this already seems like having your data even arrive to the suite is in question....

how can I set an eVar for mobile app now that we don't have mobile services anymore? is it through launch like a website (after creating the eVar) or via RS using processing rules?

---

If the eVar is essentially a classification to identity your mobile app... if you only have 1 mobile app, you should be able to set up a simple processing rule like:

(Native apps set a standard context variable with the app id under "a.appid" - so a simple "is this a native app check may be enough"

Then in the "Then do the following" area, 

"Overwrite value of"  (select your eVar)  with "Custom Value" (value)

If you have multiple apps, you may need to do a check if this is a native app AND do a secondary check based on the value of a.appid contains, or maybe based on a custom context variable to properly identify multiple apps from one another.

Another recommendation, since you are using Processing Rules, I highly recommend that ALL app rules use the "a.appid" is set check (this will prevent any accidental changing of values coming from your website).  I name all app specific rules with the prefix "App: " to ensure I can tell which rules are which.

Hopefully this is a start for you, but I think before looking at your reports, you need to do direct testing of your app (using Assurance, or at the very least Charles/Fiddler) to make sure that the app is even sending data to Adobe, that there isn't an implementation issue right at the SDK/App level.

[fern1]

Thanks for your help Jen!

So in regard to the Assurance, we included it in our sprint and should have it deployed soon. This way will be easier to tell. Right now I´ve been checking our data using the real-time option or testing in the development environment (we have a report suite only for that also). 

---

Next, I am not sure what you mean by

When I go to our report on analytics and try to create a flow using report suit as an entry point

---

What do you mean create a flow using "report suite" as an entry point.... all your data is in a single global report suite already... 

For the sites, we also mapped out the report suite as an eVar. 

---

Do you mean that you have an eVar called "report suite" which contains information such as "website1", "website2", "app1", etc - so that you can tell classify your traffic into segments?

---

And yes, we have an eVar called "Report Suite" set up for every one of our sites and on the global report we have a macro view of where our users go. and we would like to include the app also. 

I can now see that we are indeed getting data from the app as the actions/custom links are showing there. 
and I just checked and it does seem that we are getting the pages from the app also as when I break down some of them with URLs it shows this:

That also made me realize that we have to rename our app screen names as it's difficult to realize they are from the app and not web. (will have to create a proper structure for that).

Our app is not native, and for now, it is the only one but we have a second being developed (not native either). That is why I'm lost in how we (our devs) can create new context data! All the lifecycle Adobe ones are working fine. 

For appid we are getting all the versions of our app. 

If you have multiple apps, you may need to do a check if this is a native app AND do a secondary check based on the value of a.appid contains, or maybe based on a custom context variable to properly identify multiple apps from one another.

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when you say the value of a.appid, can I add the exact version of the app there? but in this case, I would have to change it every time we have a new version coming, correct? I think setting a context variable would make more sense (If I learn how to do so for a non-native app and show it to the devs)

And thank you for your tip. I opened a request to rename all our track actions to include the prefix "app", and will be also requesting for page name. Will also change the rules. 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Oh... if the app is not Native - I assume its more like a native app wrapper around a website? Then  you can just use normal "web tracking" on the website that drives the app - we used to have apps like that.. you don't get app lifecycle events, but it makes things a lot easier   (well possibly)

In the past, before we had a Native App, our apps used a website (app.site.com) in a native app wrapper... we implemented all analytics through a normal web implementation (not the SDK)... it also meant that we could do most of our analytics testing but loading app.site.com directly in our browsers (no need for the proxy connection). However, if your developers are using the SDK to connect the wrapper (to get lifecycle metrics with the page content being loaded, you may still need to do all the proxy / SDK testing.

It might be worth sitting down with your developers and really understanding how the app is built and how they are sending you data.....

when you say the value of a.appid, can I add the exact version of the app there? but in this case, I would have to change it every time we have a new version coming, correct? I think setting a context variable would make more sense (If I learn how to do so for a non-native app and show it to the devs)

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You can add the exact version, but I wouldn't... our App IDs actually look like "Site A 3.55.0 (23454364663)" - which is essentially a site identification,version number and build number (however, this is a Native App app id...  depending on your implementation, you may not have this... unless the native wrapper is setting it). So I can create a rule like "a.appid contains Site A" rather than look specifically a actual individual versions.... OR if your developers set a context variable to hold a direct "Site A" value, you could look for "a.appid is set" and custom context variable equals "Site A" for instance. OR maybe you just need to set a few context variables to identify something like "isApp = true" and "siteId = Site A" (then use "isApp equals true" as your processing rule to only trigger on your apps).  Again, understanding how your apps are working is going to be key to ensuring you have what you need to set up your rules

It's actually not renaming your trackActions...  you want to name the context variables that are attached to your trackState and trackActions. By default (and you can't change this) ALL trackActions will endup prefixed with "AMACTION:" anyway.... most people hate this, but Adobe hasn't changed it...

If I have an action "successful login", I want that value to be set on my website and my app (since I have a prop that identifies if the action is coming from my website or my app)... sadly, I get two variations in my custom links "successful login" and "AMACTION: successful login" (so if I want to look specifically at those actions, I always have to create a segment to pull the two variations together)

[fern1]

So I just have a talk with one of our devs... hope this will make sense.
We have a plugin done in Cordova where the javascript codes for android and IOS are, and where the adobe SDK implementation was done. After that, a wrapper was indeed created for the app system (it is not web app) we are using, also creating a plugin where the cordova one was inserted. So this way we have the lifecycles, thus we do have to do the SDK testing like you mentioned.

even the trackaction was done in a way that we can set up the actions on the system side of it instead of having to add anything to the native code. When I mentioned renaming the actions, I meant the ones added into the code that appears here "AMACTION:" (custom link). 
Our idea for the future is ex the example you mentioned.. for instance, I want to be able to get the number of forms that were submitted via app and via web (creating a segment with both for instance, and having a macro view).

So back to basics, for our devs to create context data in this case (for user ID, Report suite, and any other case we might need), should it be done inside the cordova with the original codes?

[Jennifer_Dungan]

If the values are all being set in Cordova, and passed to the SDK, then I guess yes?

I understand at a basic level I think what your app is doing... our app is coded in React Native (which has its own challenges )

But, what context data you set is up to your implementation... I track everything that our website has in our apps, so I have context variables that are sent on every trackState that relate to page views, and context variables sent on every trackAction that relate to the Actions (both standard correlation items on all Actions, then "action specific" context variables).

[fern1]

Hi Jen, sorry to open this topic again. We are in the implementation stage of this..

To sums up, each of our apps have a report suite eVar. So when on the global report, I can filter unique visitors for instance by "website1" report suite.

However, as mentioned in this thread, I´ve to create one for the app. 
In this case, the devs need to create a context variable in the app. I like your suggestion to use  "myapp.userId" for instance.
So in the case of report suite, how should the devs implement? "nameofmyapp.nameofthereportsuite", or "nameofmyapp.reportsuite".

Once the context data is added in the app, I´ve to create an eVar called Report Suite (if all my sites and global report have eVar5 as report suite, the app also has to be eVar5, correct?), and after that a processing rule. Did I get it all right?
if so, I just need clarification on how to create the context data in the app.

thanks in advance

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Hi no problem

The context variable can be anything so long as it's clear to people what kind of data it will hold and what it's being used it's for...

So either .reportsuite or .nameofthereportsuite would work.... generally I would probably go for the shorter name (it's just a little easier to deal with in in Processing Rules, and a little cleaner to read).

And yes, you are correct.. if you are storing the value of ReportSuite in eVar5 for everything else, you would want to match that up.

Now, here is another option..IF you only have one app, you could also just set eVar5 with processing rules directly.... you can use a rule like "if app.id is set" and then hardcode the reportsuite value. Or you could append a context variable with Launch.... Launch is limited in what it can do on mobile apps, but in theory, since the app is going to be sent to a specific report suite, you could create a rule to append a context variable to all your calls with one set value.

I will also sometimes use camel case "nameofapp.ReportSuite" for readability (you can still ensure that the value inside the variable is all in the case you need for tracking - and note, processing rules don't have a change case function, so make sure the developers send in the case format you need)

[fern1]

Thanks Jen!!

But a question, if the devs set the context as "nameofapp.ReportSuite", how it will send the value of my report suite name? this question sounds dumb/basic but I´m not a technical person.. 

because on workspace when we go to the report suite eVar, it shows each report suite by the name it was given..

Unfortunately, the second option won't work for us as we have a new app being developed now and in the future will prob have others. 

lastly, in terms of the processing rules, how can I set the rule up?

thank you sooo much for your patience Jen!

[Jennifer_Dungan · Accepted solution]

Ah, sorry, you would have your developers set the value. 

So I often have a mix of values that are set by page (stuff like the category, the asset id, the title, etc... stuff that will be driven by the data and what is currently loaded.

The I will have stuff which is basically set and reused which is specific to the app itself... which app is it (we have three), the code version of the app and the build number (we don't force upgrades, so we need to know which version users are on - and while yes this is also sent in some of the standard metrics, having these pieces allow me to have a little more control), etc.

In your case, the report suite won't change in the middle of using the app, so your developers can set the value once, then attach it to all calls (or as I said, you could use Adobe Launch to just append this - which might be easier....)

The code base of your app will change the syntax of how the value is set and attached to the calls, so you may want your developers to check https://developer.adobe.com/client-sdks/documentation/ or https://aep-sdks.gitbook.io/docs/ 

Basically you would use something like:

MobileCore.track(state: "state name", data: ["key": "value"])

Where "key" would be "myapp.ReportSuite" and "value" would be "reportsuitea" or "reportsuiteb", etc

OR you can append it in your Launch like so:

{
    "contextdata": {
        "myapp.ReportSuite": "reportsuitea"
    }
}

(set the context variable name "myapp.ReportSuite" to your naming convention, and the value "reportsuitea" to your report suite)

The rule trigger looks like:

Make sure to create a similar rule for actions as well as states, and maybe even for "Launch" events.

This will append your context variable to your server calls, and since the value of the report suite shouldn't be changing (unless you are using one Launch property to drive multiple suites - then this won't work)

Next, no matter of using processing rule....

In your reportsuite admin, General > Processing Rules

I like to check for app id (to make sure I don't accidentally target web traffic in the suite), you can add multiple conditions, then I choose to "overwrite" eVar5 with my context variable like so:

Make sure you test this first in a QA or Dev suite... processing rules will change the value of your dimensions, so you want to be sure the rules are working correctly before adding to prod... if something breaks there is no way to get the old values back.

[fern1]

thank you Jen! 

that was really helpful. If I do it through launch, would it affect new apps in the future?
it would be easier for me as I won´t need to ask the devs to add the context data but on the other hand, as you said before, might not work if we have more than 1 app. 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Only if you run ALL apps through one Launch property... If you have separate properties for each then it shouldn't be a problem... and since this is "report suite" and you set the report suite in Launch, you are probably going to use separate properties anyway...

For me, all apps and websites go into the same suite... I separate them all by using the "server" dimension, so I need my developers to set the correct context variable per app.

[fern1]

Yes!! 
Each of our sites/apps has its own launch properties.
And we have 2 report suites (QA and prod) for each one of them also and 1 global report suite that is common in every launch property. 

So I´ll try to see if it will work via launch and will share with you here what happens

[fern1]

Jen, 

im now doing the setup on launch as a test..
And a question came to mind..
for the same app we have a qa report suite and a prod: myapp-prod, myapp-qua..
the prod report suite one is linked to our productionlaunch environment and the qua one to our staging..

I´m now creating the Action inside the rules, and creating the context data like the example you gave me (I just changed the names to post here, I know I've to replace the myapp-prod for the real report suite name)

But this way, even if I'm in the qua report, I would see the prod report suite, correct? Since its an app, how can i code here that would tell conditions, like if it is the staging, the report suite is "myapp-qua", if it is production is "myapp-prod"?

I hope it makes sense!

[Jennifer_Dungan]

That is correct... this will pass the prod suite to QA...

Since the Mobile App Launch properties don't allow for custom JS to be written, you can't really create a Data Element that will change the value based on environment.

IF you really need to have the QA suite name passed to QA, and the prod suite name passed to prod, you could create two context variables:

{
    "contextdata": {
        "myapp.ReportSuiteProd": "myapp-prod",
        "myapp.ReportSuiteQA": "myapp-qa"
    }
}

Then in your QA Suite, you can set your rule to use "myapp.ReportSuiteQA" in the mapping; and in prod suite use "myapp.ReportSuiteProd" (just make sure you don't copy these rules between your suites!)

[fern1]

Jenn,

I probably did something wrong as I´m not getting the report suite name on workspace.. I will put here step by step what I did:
1. on report suite I have the evar20: report suite. it's like that for all our products
2. Created a rule:

I ended up only creating the action for our quality environment. if it works I´ll replace the name for the production one:

and my processing rule is this:

However, on workspace the report suite name doesn't show:

all channels is our global report suite, and each one in this is from our websites for the last 7 days.. however, the app is still not showing. I'm starting to believe that the unspecified one is the app as it is the only product we have that we cannot get the report suite yet. all the websites we can. 
Any idea what did I do wrong?

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Did you test your mobile app (either using AEP Assurance, or testing via a proxy with Charles / Fiddler / etc)?

Is your new context variable being added? You should be able to see it during testing.

When you added the processing rule, did you have to "force" the context variable with "Add Context Variable"? You shouldn't have to do that if you are collecting values... but the value may come through a different way when mapped in this way... so you need to make sure you are using the context variable as it's being sent.

You will need to test at each level to see where the data may be getting lost/missed.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

I just noticed on another one of your posts that your app is not native.. if so, a.appid won't be set... this is a built in native app context variable... you will need to find another way to identify your app to create a rule around it... I wouldn't want you to override your eVar20 with a null value on your website....

It may have to be as simple as:

If reportsuite (context variable) is set, then overwrite eVar20 with reportsuite (context variable)

[fern1]

Hey Jen!! 

No, I didn´t have to "force" it. The context data automatically appeared as an option.

I'm now trying your last suggestion and will give you feedback soon!

And in regard to the debugger, we just added AEP Assurance in the code and will be looking into how to use it soon to debug our setup.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Ok, good.. if it's showing up, that means it's being populated... it might be the a.appid is set then

[fern1]

But in that case, any idea why on workspace I´m not getting the exact name of the report suite?

And just by curiosity, once looking for the context data I saw this option, 

what info does it collect?