VIVO-31: Improve documentation of Google Analytics about vivo HOT 15 CLOSED

Jim Blake said:

From Jon C-R:

Jim,

Kathy uses Google Analytics here in Cornell VIVO to track not only the amount of traffic but what people are doing.

In my ideal world, Vitro (and by extension VIVO) would have Google Analytics configuration in deploy.properties where any site could enter their preferred key or indicate that Analytics should be disabled, and appropriate modifications would be made as Vitro or VIVO is deployed. Barring that, it would be helpful to have a section in the installation and/or upgrade guides pointing out where Analytics can be activated and a key specified.

Katy Börner was in favor of VIVO having a unique worldwide Google Analytics key so that all use of VIVO software anywhere could be tracked. This seems a little big brother-ish, but it might be a provocative topic for conversation at the implementation fest.

There is no longer any need to differentiate between NIH-funded sites and other sites since the NIH grant is over.

Thanks for pointing out the inconsistencies --

Jon

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Jim Blake said:

It would not be difficult to turn this into a runtime option, as Jon suggests. For example:
analytics.google.siteInfo = UA-5164622-5 vivo.cornell.edu, UA-12531954-1 none
This would duplicate our current tracking, using our own GA code and domain, and the "rollup" GA code, with domain = "none"

That still leaves some questions:
Currently, a table on the Cornell Confluence page "Google Analytics for UI" specifies the domain, GA code, and contact information for seven institutions. Do we still need/want to publish this information? Publicly or privately? Where?
Do we still want to record analytics for all seven institutions on a single "rollup" account?

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Jim Blake said:

As I said in my previous message, it will not be difficult to invoke the Google Analytics code using a runtime property. But what is the best way to do this?

Is support for Google Analytics a function of Vitro? Is it a function of a particular site?
If this is a function of Vitro, then either FreemarkerHttpServlet or FreemarkerConfiguration can read the runtime property and make it available to the templates.
If this is a function of a particular site, then create a mechanism that exposes the configuration properties to the templates, and Google Analytics becomes a feature of the template/theme.
Other options? Your thoughts?

from vivo.

Mike Conlon said:

We need to help our sites – Vitro and VIVO sites – configure and use Google Analytics with their local key.

We can open a separate issue regarding runtime.properties and automatic configuration.

from vivo.

Christian Hauschke said:

I would prefer a "service-agnostic" solution, that can be used for services like Matomo (ex-PIWIK, [https://matomo.org/]), too. This would mean there is a place to include any javascript tracking code. This place should not be named after Google Analytics.

The documentation process for this should be done regardless of which service is used, too.

PS: I just added Matomo on https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/VIVO/Web+Analytics+for+VIVO

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Mike Conlon said:

Agree.  Would be good to generalize the analytics capability.  At the moment, we have a template called googleAnalytics.ftl where a key can be inserted.  I plan to document that under this ticket.  New VIVO admins want to know how to enable Google Analytics.

I have opened a new ticket to dal with the more general problem of web analytics for VIVO.  See 

• VIVO-1480

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Mike Conlon said:

Work started.  See https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/VIVODOC110x/Configuring+Google+Analytics

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Mike Conlon said:

Complete first draft.  The assumption is that the page is for people relatively new to VIVO.  And new to their production site.  Configuring Google Analytics is something a site might do before they are VIVO experts.  I have tried to keep things as simple as possible.

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Christian Hauschke said:

Can we change the title to "Configuring Web analytics" with two sections about Google Analytics and Matomo as an example? Matomo is basically the same, you just insert a different tracking code. We at TIB even use the googleAnalytics.ftl for this.

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Christian Hauschke said:

Reviewed. Please note my comment on https://wiki.duraspace.org/display/VIVODOC110x/Configuring+Google+Analytics.

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Andrew Woods said:

Pending response to review comment.

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Christian Hauschke said:

Everything fine (reviewed), but I would like to add the following:

h2. Other analytics plattforms

It is possible to use other analytics plattforms. E.g., if you want to use Matomo, you can substitute the tracking script by Google Analytics with the one provided by Matomo.

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Mike Conlon said:

I added the material regarding other platforms.  Please take a look.

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Muhammad Javed said:

Reviewed and Passed.

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Mike Conlon said:

completed and reviewed.

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