Enterprise Web Analytics
Posted on | January 7, 2011 | Comments Off
Web analytics enterprise solutions require strong foundation of education, communication, governance and standards across the organization. When you get to the point where you are analyzing enterprise level data you want to have a governance plan in place to manage the system of managing the data.
Governance is the plan for the processes.
Silos are a big problem in the corporate world and this is true of data as well. The larger the enterprise the more dispersed is the data, spread out all over often with individual markets using different tools to analyze the same information. This is a big problem. When you go to the table to discuss and make decisions you definitely want to be comparing apples to apples. It isn’t that one tool is more correct than the other because for the most part enterprise organizations are looking at trends for the big picture. The problem with looking at the same data through different tools is people get caught up in the individual number differences and lose sight of the big picture. Trusting the data becomes a distraction to moving ahead with sound decisions.
A crucial step in governance is to determine the standards for how data is gathered, stored, analyzed, presented, maintained and archived. On top of that which data is the base data all markets within the enterprise are going to use to discuss whether efforts are successful or not. I recommend keeping this simple with the enterprise selecting 3-5 key measures that define success. There will be multiple levels to this starting with the umbrella and understanding that each campaign will have its own defined measures of success.
To understand what needs to be included in the governance plan you first need to understand all the basics of requirement gathering and who the stakeholders are. You’ll want to inventory the various systems, applications, platforms and data sources. Take and inventory of all the touch points for each process that is required to maintain a web presence because each involve some sort of data generated that should be monitored and when determined important, used to improve the entire system.
Presentation of the data is of primary importance to the stakeholders. How is the data made available to the stakeholders? Where is it stored and how is it updated? I think the best solution for issues around communication, presentation, education, storage and maintenance can all be housed within a SharePoint type platform. In gathering requirements across a wide variety of businesses setting up a SharePoint to manage the system boosts the level of success across the organization.
The key to successfully designing, implementing and maintaining an enterprise web analytics governance plan is executive support. Establishing a governance plan will ruffle a few feathers because systems will change for accountability sake. Use the requirements gathering phase to inspire a solution to the problem of mismanaged data. I haven’t found an enterprise yet that is successfully putting to use all their data to drive decisions. In all too many cases executives aren’t aware of what is available to them or how to use it. It’s the responsibility of the web management team to provide the executive team with a governance plan for how the data is gathered, analyzed, presented, maintained and archived. Without a governance plan how can you validate the usefulness of the data?
I am looking to work with a company that makes the implementation of a governance plan a priority. Equally important is the channel, such as a SharePoint, to communicate about the data. Give me open access to stakeholders and I will be a very happy analyst.
The Environment I Want to Work in
Posted on | December 22, 2010 | Comments Off
What I bring to an organization, beyond my passion and zeal towards efforts that drive results, is my ability to collect, organize, analyze and present data in a manner that is easy to understand and digest.
Reporting for reporting sake is a waste of time.
The point is to use the data to drive decisions and businesses need a lot of help with this. Additionally I know as much about driving leads as I do about analytics and over the years have combined my skills to drive measurable success. My measures of success are to improve the both the bottom line and exceed executive expectations.
I follow a few basic steps to reach success online and those work regardless of the size of the internet presence or the size of the organization.
I treat every project as an opportunity to problem solve and regardless of the size or scope of the project I take the the following project management steps to ensure an outcome of success.
- I find out the scope of the project and establish the governance for the project.
- I make direct contact with all of the stakeholders and gather their requirements, particularly their top 3 measures of success for the project.
- I establish a method of communication with the stakeholders and am particularly fond of a Sharepoint type platform to communicate and assist with the following tasks.
- I establish a method to gather, develop, edit, store, and present documentation.
- I survey the organization for data sources and establish connections to them.
- I establish the manner of analysis.
- I set up presentation methods. Besides the ability to manage documentation how data is presented is crucial for success in utilizing the data. The communications platform can be used to present data through dashboards and hosted reports using methods the stakeholders are comfortable with.
- I establish a feedback loop so data, analysis and communication is constantly circulating.
My dream position will accept this as my manner of doing business and will thrive within it. During my time with Webtrends I had the opportunity to gather requirements from several enterprise and government organizations and learned during those experiences the value of maintaining the process described above to ensure success.
I would love to work with a company that values the importance of a system of governance to structure the use of data in order to succeed with an online presence. Of equal importance to me is how the company values the use of data to make decisions and whether the position is executive sanctioned. A successful project comes down to understanding the needs of the stakeholders and appreciating their measures of success then following through and giving them what they need, all of it measurable.
My resume is located at Debra Paynter Resume, please forward it on to anyone you think may be interested in discussing this sort of position for hire, I am eager to get working. Thank you for your time.
Web Analyst as Problem Solver
Posted on | August 27, 2010 | Comments Off
Here I am, finally returning to the topic I intended to write months ago. I am eager to delve into my experiences with problem solving, for me the true purpose of web analytics and how I measure my professional success. Ideally as a web analyst the client comes to me with a problem and wants my help to solve it. There are several requirement gathering steps I go through initially whether the problem is large or small. If I am familiar with the client than this step can be brief but if I’m working with a new or complex enterprise level client with more complicated problems, requirement gathering can take on nearly a life of its own.
Web analytics covers the data generated by traffic to and through the website. Clients’ come to me wanting to understand their visitor better so they can successfully meet their needs. This is the most common requirement. As a non-commerce site the client must determine what success means to them and how they intend to measure it. Success can be derived from as many avenues as there are events on the site.
A very common success indicator for an average non-commerce site is the downloading of a whitepaper. Through requirement gathering I consider all the touch points involved or possibly involved with that event. Each event has a stakeholder and understanding their perspective and needs is crucial. The size of the problem and the stakeholder’s requirements will determine the commitment necessary from the organization to support the process. My minimum requirements include a blessing on the project from the executive level. Without an executive level commitment for the problem solving activity there is no point to the exercise. The point of problem solving is to find the solution that will best meet the requirements of the problem, what then? Following through with the solution, obviously and that takes executive level commitment, all too often an impediment if not dealt with at the beginning of the problem solving process.
Tags: Problem Solving > Requirement Gathering > Web Analytics