how to integrate bi reports in my web application?

Choosing a web analystics program

• I need help selecting a web analytics solution. My company has a website that consists of tens of thousands of pages. Each page is similar in format (think eBay) and we want to be able to track certain things about how users interact with the site (as a whole) and with individual pages. We?d like to be able to generate reports that are by the page, and be able to share those reports with the person who built that page (think eBay again). The goal of this question is to find a solution that 1. meets every requirement with an asterisk below 2. has a good reputation 3. is really cheap 4. offers features that aren?t noted with an asterisk (in that order) The best answer will survey a bunch of relevant solutions (with websites and prices if available) and then rank them. Given the current shakeup in pricing in the analytics world, I?m particularly interested in what subset of our features we can get from free or nearly free alternatives. *Dashboards Dashboards make it easy to focus on the metrics that are important to the business. Some providers offer customized dashboards, some have canned reports. *Custom Reports Custom reports can be generated through the reporting interface or set up to be delivered via email. Some tools only offer a set of predefined reports and don't have this capability. Some tools allow you to export to an application like Excel to do custom analysis (and automatically update the data). A good solution provides an ability to turn the raw data into something we can manipulate (either a feed or a delineated data file) *Search Tracking We need to know what people are searching for and the outcomes of those searches. A bonus is a tool that is able to follow the clickstream even further, and determine, for example, which searches are more likely to lead to certain outcomes (like clickouts) +Content Categories This is an ?also liked? feature. For example, it could tell us that people who visited page A were three times likelier to visit page B +Segmentation Segmentation allows you to analyze the behavior of users by a set of characteristics. Some products offer pre-configured segments (e.g "New vs. Returning visitors"), while others allow you to create your own (e.g. "users who looked at pogo sticks" or "email campaign responders"). *Trending Trending allows you to track how much key metrics have changed over time. Some tools allow you to track trends in a few metrics, while other tools allow virtually all metrics to be compared in this fashion. The winner gives us good flexibility in this area. *Page Overlays These overlays show user activity on a particular page by overlaying metrics such as number of clicks, conversions, conversion value, percent of clicks, etc. This is used, for example, to track the effectiveness of specific interface elements on a page. +Reporting API Reporting API's support the ability to pull analytics data into a custom application. We don?t need an API if we can get a delimited file on a regular basis +Path analysis Path analysis is tracking how users progress through the site. +Form Abandonment Form abandonment shows you what percent of users who started a form actually completed it, and where on that form they were when they left. Thanks so much for a swift reply. We're counting on you!

• Answer:

  Hi again, Here are four very good Analytic solutions with links to 6 others reviewed by Network Computing. " One of the key product differentiators for HBX is that it can import data from the data warehouse to a customized Excel template using the "Report Builder," which is a Visual Basic Excel plug-in. I'm not partial to VB plug-ins, but it works well, though some actions caused odd results. This feature, though somewhat difficult to master, makes it possible for an organization to customize how it sees the traffic data and can automate the creation of otherwise labor-intensive custom views for business managers. The regular browser interface is well-designed and offers something for everyone. HBX conducts Web-based training classes every Friday that any client can join. The class is an excellent introduction, and I love that it happens regularly. It's great to see what kinds of questions users from other companies are asking." http://www.nwc.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=20003001&pgno=3 Review for WebsideStory's HBX Analytic solution http://www.nwc.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=20003001&pgno=3 " Omniture's SiteCatalyst system offers something for all analysts, from the stats guru to the novice. The interface is easy to navigate and lets you quickly cross-reference different data points. For instance, in a report of the most popular URLs, you can right-click on any one listed to identify the top referrers to that URL. The dashboards are convenient and can be converted to any imaginable format. The admin interface is much better than any of the other products'. It lets you see who's using the system and what they are doing. One drawback is that reports load slowly on dial-up. The speed is acceptable on a cable modem or DSL. All-around good analytics, outstanding ease of use and strong support helped SiteCatalyst just nudge out WebSideStory's HBX. Part of Omniture's marketing pitch is that it hasn't lost a customer in eight years of business, which is impressive. But Web analytics is evolving quickly and far from mature, so the company should avoid resting on its laurels." http://www.nwc.com/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=H4CKCTMBENXRQQSNDBCCKHSCJUMEKJVN?articleID=20003001&pgno=2 Review for Omniture's SiteCatalyst System http://www.omniture.com/global/home " The SurfAid interface includes a query tool that enables creation of custom reports on the fly for stats fiends and several point-and-click reports for novice users. The interface is fast, simply designed and well-organized, but it doesn't cater to users who need guidance for more in-depth analysis. This tool would be great for companies that centralize Web site analytics. Because it comes from Big Blue, we thought SurfAid might be somewhat unwieldy, but we needn't have worried. The service responded nimbly, and we found features and functions without having to plow through Red Books or those eye-drooping architecture documents. LinkTracker, IBM's browser-overlay view, is new. Like its rivals, LinkTracker showed us a number of clicks, ranked with percentages of total clicks and views. Typical of SurfAid, the defaults for the LinkTracker application are exposed and can be changed easily. For example, we set the ranking based on activity since the previous day, from the start of that day to the most recent five minutes. HBX and SiteCatalyst present real-time data, but not with this granularity. As with the other products, the translucent browser view is accompanied by configurable graphs and tables that show overall site traffic." http://www.nwc.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=20003001&pgno=5 Review on IBM's SurfAid Analytics http://surfaid.dfw.ibm.com/web/home/index.html " This product is one of the best. The support engineers understand analytics and give wonderful advice. Drawbacks include difficulty navigating between data among Web sites and combining data across multiple Web sites. I attended a regional user group session where users get together and talk about their experiences. These sessions are fun and useful, and not opportunities for the consultants who host these sessions to do sales pitches. Service throughout the trial was excellent. This product can be run in-house, which is a great benefit for companies like financial institutions, for whom data security is a top priority. NetIQ's venerable WebTrends is offered as a service, which may surprise some. NetIQ's history of log analysis has pigeonholed the company and is aggressively used by competitors to brand it as "old" and for "small and simple" installations only. That's just plain inaccurate. NetIQ has branched out to offer small business-centric log analysis, tag-based JavaScript products and the service we tested, WebTrends On Demand. WTOD's maturity shows in its documentation, help and support. The company has a large installed base, active user groups in most cities and well-written documentation that has been polished over the years. " http://www.nwc.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=20003001&pgno=4 Review on NetIQ WebTrends http://www.netiq.com/ The article that each of these are reviewed from also lists six others which did not measure up as well as these four. I will let you know that it might be wise to look into Goolge's Analytics System when it becomes available. I don't see much that you can't do with the system that these four offer. You are able to download all of your data, so that you can easily create custom reports in Excel or something like Crystal Reports. I don't know when Google Analytics will be open for new accounts, of even if they will, but keeping an eye on them might be a wise solution. ://www.google.com/analytics/ thanks, and Happy Holidays webadept-ga