Tuesday's Tech Bytes - Best practices to follow while migrating Adobe Web/Mobile SDK (Part 01)

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Hello, everyone! Nice to have you back for another exciting edition of 'Tuesday's Tech Bytes'. Having wrapped up our discussion on 'Tips & Tricks in Adobe Web/Mobile SDK Migration' last week, we're all set to delve into our next topic: 'Best Practices for Adobe Web/Mobile SDK Migration’. If you missed our previous threads on the first theme, be sure to catch up right here (Part 1 & Part 2).

Without further ado, let's jump right into our new theme!

In the realm of best practices, it's important to acknowledge that everyone brings their unique experiences to the table. Nevertheless, in this discussion, I'll strive to address critical aspects of migration related to the following items:

• Comprehensive change management strategy
• Utilizing a holistic approach to migration
• Prioritizing data security and compliance
• Initiating with thorough documentation
• Conducting sufficient and robust testing
• Evaluating and optimizing your dataLayer
• Grasping XDM & JSON proficiency
• Leveraging Adobe's latest tools and features
• Understanding Adobe Analytics Limitations
• Understanding Adobe Audience Manager and Adobe Target Limitations
• Mastering Identity limitations

Comprehensive change management strategy

• Strong change management plan: Develop a comprehensive strategy for managing changes effectively during the implementation process to ensure a smooth transition.
• Go-live process with dry runs: Set up a well-structured process for the system's go-live, including multiple dry-runs to identify and rectify potential issues before launch.
• Document impacted reports and features: Create documentation detailing how various reports, such as "Plugins," and features like "Data Explorer/Signals" are affected by the implementation.
• Stakeholders buy-in from Analysts to Executives: Secure approval and support from stakeholders at all levels, including analysts and executives, to ensure alignment and cooperation throughout the project.
• Feedback and Redressal channel: Establish a clear mechanism for collecting feedback and addressing concerns from users or stakeholders during and after the implementation phase.

Utilizing a holistic approach to migration

• WebSDK collaboration: WebSDK fosters collaboration by providing a shared platform that brings multiple teams together, streamlining communication and cooperation.
• Phased migration strategy: Implement a sequential migration strategy, starting with one site and solution at a time, but maintaining a long-term vision of consolidating all solutions and data for comprehensive integration.
• Dependency assessment: Prior to migration, evaluate the interdependencies between various solutions to identify potential bottlenecks or issues that may arise during the transition.
• Issue documentation: Conduct a thorough audit of existing data and integrations, documenting any outstanding problems. This documentation is crucial for efficient troubleshooting during migration.
• Long-term integration plan: Develop a strategic roadmap outlining how data and solutions will be integrated over time, ensuring a unified and efficient data management system.

Prioritizing data security and compliance

• Comprehensive data collection: Instead of implementing a single point solution, focus on collecting essential customer data across the board to enable more holistic insights and strategies.
• Website data types: Websites typically generate two primary data types—event data, which captures user interactions, and profile data, which comprises information about users' characteristics and preferences.
• AEP for PII: Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) can handle Personally Identifiable Information (PII), making it suitable to directly leverage web profiles into AEP. Other solutions may not provide this capability due to data privacy and security considerations.
• Leveraging known IDs: Utilize identifiable information such as email addresses, phone numbers, and customer IDs wherever possible throughout your data and solution ecosystem to enhance personalization and tracking capabilities.

Initiating with thorough documentation

• Efficient documentation: Avoid excessive documentation; aim for clarity and brevity to prevent overwhelming your team with unnecessary details.
• Tech Specs for Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target: Provide detailed technical specifications for Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target, covering aspects like solution grouping and data collection.
• Solution Design Reference for Adobe Analytics: Generate an SDR for Adobe Analytics that outlines solution grouping and specifics regarding Launch, including rules and conditions.
• Create missing SDRs: In cases where SDRs are absent, generate them to ensure comprehensive documentation and clarity in the migration process.
• Developer guidance: Clearly communicate the required variables to your development team, ensuring they have the information needed for a successful migration.

Conducting sufficient and robust testing

• Testing with AA SDR: Utilize the Adobe Analytics Solution Design Reference (SDR) as a testing framework to ensure the accuracy and effectiveness of your implementation.
• Development and QA testing: Successful implementation relies on thorough testing and validation, making development and Quality Assurance (QA) verification crucial.
• Hybrid testing approach: NextRow recommends adopting a hybrid testing approach that combines real-time testing, Automated Hit Delivery (AHD), Observepoint, and manual verification to ensure comprehensive and reliable testing results.
• Simplified test cases: Employ straightforward yet impactful test cases that outline specific user journeys or actions and the corresponding variables that should trigger during testing.
• Three clearance levels: Establish three distinct clearance levels to maintain sufficient testing and verification procedures.
  • Encompassing Adobe Launch call validation
  • Adobe Analytics reporting validation
  • Platform data ingestion validation

Concluding this thread for now. We'll delve into the remaining items, kindly head over to the next post here.