Configure a Google Analytics Integration

In order to easily track and report on book usage statistics as described in the SimplyE Circulation Analytics page, you can configure 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 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 your Google Analytics account to 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

Create a Property for SimplyE in your Google Analytics account

Creating the correct property on Google Analytics requires you to:

1. Click the gear icon/the "Admin" menu item on the bottom left
2. Click the blue "Create Property" button in the top of the middle column
3. Choose "Web" at the top of the screen, not Apps or Apps + Web
4. Scroll down and click "Continue"
5. For "Website Name" type "SimplyE" or a variant that will indicate to your team the data you'll be collecting
6. For "Website URL" it should be the URL of your circulation manager, which you can get from your hosting provider
7. Click "Create"

The next page should show the Tracking ID in large font. It should start with UA- , not G or any other letter. Select that Tracking ID and either send it to your hosting provider or follow the instructions below to add it to the Circulation Manager.

You can ignore the Global Site Tag content; we don't tag anything in order to preserve patron privacy.

Add the Google Analytics 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.

Step-by-step guide

1. Login to your Circulation Manager's administration site.
2. Click the Configuration or the System Configuration link in the top menu bar.
3. Click the Analytics sidebar item.
4. Click the Create new analytics service item.
5. Enter a name for the library/consortia-specific service; for example, ABC Public Library Google Analytics.
6. Leave the Protocol setting at Google Analytics.
7. The URL setting should also be correct and can be accepted as is.
8. Click the Add Library drop-down list.
9. Select the library for which this Google Analytics account applies.
10. In the new Tracking ID field which appears, enter the library/consortia's Google Analytics account ID.
11. Click the Add Library button.
12. Click the Submit button to save the new integration.

Configure Google Analytics Dimensions for SimplyE

To capture dimension data from the SimplyE Circulation Manager in your Google Analytics account, you must set up a 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.

In your Google Analytics account, on the administration page (the gear icon in the lower left corner) for the property (middle column), go to:

• Custom Definitions
   > Custom Dimensions

Add the following dimensions, in this order:

1. time
2. identifier
3. identifier_type
4. title
5. author
6. fiction
7. audience
8. target_age
9. publisher
10. language
11. genre
12. open_access
13. distributor
14. medium
15. library

Each dimension should have the scope set to Hit and the Active box checked.

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SimplyE Circulation Analytics