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This document is currently being developed. An A more visual update with screenshots is forthcoming featuring step-by-step instructions for library staff configuring entries in a Google Analytics account. |
In order to easily track and report on book usage statistics as described in the SimplyE Circulation Analytics page, you can configure the your SimplyE Circulation Manager to connect to your Google Analytics instance. Currently, Google Analytics is the only analytics engine supported for this function.
There are two three components required to use Google Analytics to capture usage from your SimplyE service:
- A Google Analytics Account so you can establish tracking properties via its collector API
- A Google Analytics web (not app+web) property in configure your Google Analytics account to accommodate elements of SimplyE usage
- add your Google Analytics account tracking ID to an integration record for your library in the Circulation Manager Admin interface
Configure Google Analytics Elements for SimplyE
(In development)
- so you can create unique tracking ID for circulation and book-related events from Circulation Manager
- NOTE: SimplyE does not use app-related Google tracking. All events are sent into the circulation manager database before being sent on to Google, in order to preserve patron privacy.
- Custom dimensions configured for the respective Google Analytics account and tracking property code for registering event metadata
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See Google Analytics Help for quick start and how-to guides for using and administering Google Analytics. |
Before getting started
The circulation manager can be used for 3 specific uses cases that may affect how you want to configure your Google Analytics integration.
- Single system / Single Tenant - in this uses case you will only need one tracking code for your library.
- Consortia - in this use case you may only need on tracking code, but need to leverage the "library" dimension measure individual member library circulation events
- Multi-tenant - in this use case, you may be hosting multiple libraries in a circulation manager that are of no relationship to one another in terms of ebook service so you will want a single Google Analytics tracking code for the specific library.
Create a Property for SimplyE in your Google Analytics account
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See Setting up a Property in Google Analytics to properly set up a web property in your Google Analytics account |
Creating the correct property on Google Analytics requires you to:
- Click the gear icon/the "Admin" menu item on the bottom left
- Click the blue "Create Property" button in the top of the middle column
- Choose "Web" at the top of the screen, not Apps or Apps + Web
- Scroll down and click "Continue"
- For "Website Name" type "SimplyE" or a variant that will indicate to your team the data you'll be collecting
- For "Website URL" it should be the URL of your circulation manager, which you can get from your hosting provider
- Click "Create"
- Click on back arrow next to Property Settings (closes that area)
- In the right column (View), click on View Settings
- Scroll down until you see a check box under "Bot Filtering".
Uncheck this (Google sets it by default to checked, but it can filter events from your cric manager)then click "Save"
Under the Property you can click on either "Properties" or "Tracking" to see the Tracking ID. It should start with UA- and look something like UA-123456789-12.
Record the Tracking ID and either send it to your hosting provider or follow the instructions below to add it to the Circulation Manager under Systems Configurations > Analytics
You can ignore the Global Site Tag content; we don't tag anything in order to preserve patron privacy
Configure Google Analytics Dimensions for SimplyE
To capture dimension data from the SimplyE Circulation Manager in your Google Analytics account, you must set must set up a property "Web Property" in Google Analytics for the SimplyE Circulation Manager.
Reminder: we do not use "Google Tags" to track any elements in the mobile app itself; everything is captured by the Circulation Manager and exported to Google Analytics through the Measurement Protocol API v1 (learn more the Google Measurement Protocol)
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WARNINGIn some instances, adding Dimensions incorrectly will require you to start from scratch. Please read all the instructions first and add the Dimensions carefully, in exactly the order listed. |
In your Google Analytics account, on the administration page page (the gear icon in the lower left corner) for the property (middle column), go to:
- Custom Definitions
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> Custom Dimensions
Add , and add the following dimensions, in this order:
- time
- identifier
- identifier_type
- title
- author
- fiction
- audience
- target_age
- publisher
- language
- genre
- open_access
- distributor
- medium
- library
Each dimension should have the scope set to Hit
and the Active
box checked.
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Add the Google Analytics
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Tracking ID to your Circulation Manager
In order to send circulation-related analytics events to your Google Analytics account, follow the instructions below to create a Google Analytics integration for your library in the Circulation Manager.
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- Login to your Circulation Manager's administration site.
- Click the Configuration or the System Configuration link in the top menu bar.
- Click the Analytics sidebar item.
- Click the Create new analytics service item.
- Enter a name for the library/consortia-specific service; for example,
ABC Public Library Google Analytics
. - Leave the Protocol setting at Google Analytics.
- The URL setting should also be correct and can be accepted as is.
- Click the Add Library drop-down list.
- Select the library for which this Google Analytics account applies.
- In the new Tracking ID field which appears, enter the library/consortia's Google Analytics account ID.
- Click the Add Library button.
- Click the Submit button to save the new integration.
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