Elevator Documentation

# Google Analytics

Admins can set up Google Analytics for greater visibility into what assets are viewed and downloaded.

# Create an Account

If this is your first time using Google Analytics at your institution, you may need to create a Google Analytics account. If you already have an account, skip this step.

  1. Go to analytics.google.com (opens new window) and login.

  2. In the Admin menu, choose + Create > Account.

    Create account in Analytics

  3. Under Account Details, enter your organization name, e.g. "UMN College of Liberal Arts".

  4. Under Account Data Sharing Settings, choose if you wish to share any data, otherwise uncheck all the boxes.

  5. Click Next.

# Create a Property

Within Google Analytics, each website you wish to track is called a "Property".

  1. Under Property Name, enter your elevator instance name, e.g. "dcl.elevator.umn.edu".

  2. Set your time zone, and click Next

  3. Answer the questions under Business Details, and click Next

  4. Set you business objectives, e.g. "understand usage"

  5. Review and accept the Terms of Service if you wish.

  6. Under Start Collecting Data, choose Web, then:

    • Enter your website url, e.g. dcl.elevator.umn.edu
    • Put your instance name as the Stream name, e.g. UMN Digital Content Library
    • Be sure Enhanced Measurement option is checked to gather page views and downloads.

    Start collecting data screen

  7. Finally, click Create & Continue to generate your elevator instance.

# Set up Custom Dimensions in Analytics

In addition to default analytics info like page views, you can get Elevator-specific data about assets, collections, and file downloads if you set Custom Dimensions in Google Analaytics.

  1. Go to Admin > Data Display > Custom Definitions

    Create custom dimensions

  2. Under Custom Dimensions tab, create the following custom dimensions:

Dimension Name Scope Event Parameter
Instance ID Event instance_id
Instance Name Event instance_name
Asset ID Event asset_id
Asset Name Event asset_name
Collection ID Event collection_id
Collection Name Event collection_name
File Object ID Event file_object_id
File Type Event file_type

# Set Measurement ID in Elevator

In Google Analytics, go to Web Stream details. (This may pop-up automatically after creating a new property.)

  1. Go to Admin > Data Streams Getting your Data Stream

  2. Choose your the data stream for your elevator instance. Select Data Stream

  3. Copy your Measurement ID, something like G-123456. Getting Measurement ID

Then, in your elevator instance:

  1. Login to elevator. (You will need to be an admin.)

  2. Choose Admin > Instance Settings

  3. In the Google Analytics Key field, paste your Measurement ID Enter your google analytics key

  4. Save

# Verify data is flowing

Back in Google Analytics, you can verify that data is flowing from Elevator to analytics using Google Tag Assistant (opens new window). Tag assistant will open a debug view to show which events are sent.

  1. Go to tagassistant.google.com (opens new window)
  2. Choose Add Domain, and enter your elevator website URL, e.g. https://dcl.elevator.umn.edu.
  3. Click Connect and tag assistant will open your elevator website in a new window or tab. This window/tab is in "Debug Mode", meaning any events from this browser window will show up in the Tag Assistant window.
  4. Click around, or enter a search term in the Elevator window. In the tag assistant you should see the events.

NOTE: Some browsers (e.g. Brave) will block transmitting analytics data by default. If you're testing your elevator site, be sure to disable this feature temporarily.

# Reporting

  • Under Reporting, you should see activity in the Realtime overview and Realtime pages reports shortly after Google Analytics is set up.
  • It will take 24 hours before you'll have enough data to create custom analytics reports.

Analytics report

Above is an example of a report using elevator data for asset and collections. To set up a report like this yourself, go to Explore > Blank, and then set:

VARIABLES:

  • Date: Last 28 days
  • Segments: All Users
  • Dimensions:
    • Under Event: Event Name
    • Under Custom: Collection Name, Asset Name
  • Metrics: Event > Event Count

SETTINGS

  • Segment Comparisons: All Users
  • Pivot: First Column
  • Rows:
    • Event Name
    • Collection Name
    • Asset Name
  • Values: Event Count

You can use Filter to limit results to specific events.

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