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Tag: Google Analytics

  • Split Adds Data Integration with Google Analytics to Reduce Software Development Risks

    Unique integration will allow import and export of data, providing instant feedback on page load performance and other critical metrics from new features

     

    REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–To reduce risk in the development process, Split Software, the leading feature delivery platform, today announced a two-way data integration with Google Analytics that can instantly detect performance issues caused by new features. This integration is unique to Split and includes the ability to ingest data from and export data to Google Analytics.

    Pairing web performance data with feature flag data gives engineering teams a direct understanding of how key service level objectives – such as page load time – are impacted by each new feature they release.

    Used by 86 percent of top websites to report on web analytics, including performance and business metrics, Google Analytics is the industry standard for web performance. Now, companies using Split won’t need to track data a second time. Instead, they can measure the impact of every feature shipped to customers using web performance data already collected in Google Analytics.

    “The strength of Split’s platform is the power to measure performance and outcomes of feature flags. Through our integration with Google Analytics, we are helping businesses to respond faster to any issue that may impact the customer experience,” said Trevor Stuart, head of product and co-founder at Split. “By closing the feedback loop from the features built, development teams deliver quantifiable customer and business value.”

    Additionally, companies can run experiments or A/B tests that prove which features drive the best results for the business. Using Split’s javascript SDK, teams can automatically collect Google Analytics metrics instantly as a user is browsing their website. Other product capabilities include:

    • Send web performance, conversion and business data from Google Analytics to Split to understand the impact of new features
    • Use average revenue per cart to see if a new feature improves business outcomes
    • Send a record of every feature flag in Split – called an impression – to Google Analytics for segmentation analysis
    • Send feature data from Split to Google Analytics to segment session or goal completion data by exposure to a new feature
    • Instantly kill any feature in Split that causes a degradation in performance indicators measured by Google Analytics

    To learn more about Split’s integration with Google Analytics, please visit: https://www.split.io/blog/google-analytics-integration-feature-flags-javascript/

    About Split

    Split is the leading Feature Delivery Platform for engineering teams that want to confidently release features as fast as they can develop them. Split’s fine-grained management, real-time monitoring, and data-driven experimentation ensure that new features will improve customer experience without breaking or degrading performance. Split ingests performance data and runs real-time statistical analyses on every new feature so that engineering teams can respond immediately to bad releases, measure changes in user experience, and build high-quality software. Engineering teams at Twilio, Salesforce, and WePay trust Split to power their feature delivery. Get started for free at www.split.io/signup.

  • Google Analytics Adapts to GDPR, But Questions Remain

    Google Analytics Adapts to GDPR, But Questions Remain

    The  General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will have an effect on how Google Analytics collects and processes data and how DevOps uses the tool—at least, that is what is known for sure at this time. These changes also should almost certainly impact DevOps for any organization that relies on the tool to collect and analyze user data. It is also known DevOps teams will have to reconfigure their Google Analytics implementations, even if an organization has no users based in the European Union (EU).

    However, while Google has recently offered some guidance about modifications to Google Analytics that impact DevOps, the company has yet to clarify some key points about changes ahead of when the new mandate takes effect May 25. In the immediate, here are some changes Google has communicated so far and actions DevOps will need to take ahead of the regulation’s deadline.

    Immediate Action Required

    The GDPR’s “right to be forgotten” provision offers users options to demand the deletion of personal data third parties store and share. To meet the terms of this provision, Google Analytics will allow organizations to manage how long their users’ data remains on Google’s servers. In this way, Google Analytics will automatically delete user and event data older than the date specified. Organizations can specify that the data remains on Google Analytic servers for 14 months, 26 months, 38 months and so on, for a maximum 50 months. It is also possible to opt for data to not expire automatically. Google Analytics says it will not delete information based on aggregate user data.

    Google Analytics also will allow organizations to delete data for individual users in an EU country that can be used to identify them under the GDPR’s “right be forgotten” clause. This data will include common identifiers that Google Analytics stores—including standard Google Analytics first-party cookies, user ID or App Instance ID.

    However, Google Analytics has yet to specify details about how organizations will be able to delete user data. While the process will be animated, Google says more information “will be available shortly,” presumably ahead of the GDPR deadline.

    Google says it is also drafting a new “EU User Consent Policy” ahead of GDPR. This policy that customers will have to agree covers organizations’ “responsibilities for making disclosures to, and obtaining consent from, end users of your sites and apps in the EU.”

    Another key modification Google has yet to reveal is the interfaces Google Analytics will offer that will allow organizations to make changes to how their users’ data is stored. Whether DevOps will be able to automate these processes or not will depend largely on whether Google Analytics will offer a GUI, an API or both.

    “If Google Analytics offers a GUI with no API, there is not much a DevOps team can do to automate it outside the existing functionality, since you need a person to do that. But if it’s an API, DevOps teams can weave the controls into their existing frameworks,” said John L. Myers, an analyst for Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). “If both are available, then you’ve got the best of both worlds.”

    Additionally, an API would allow the retention and deletion tools to work within existing DevOps frameworks and to become automated as part of business processes, Myers noted.

    The DevOps Challenge

    DevOps will obviously need to be prepare for GDPR in other ways outside of the scope of changes to Google Analytics or face fines up to 4 percent of their annual revenues or €20 million ($25 million), whichever is greater. Indeed, GDPR applies to all organizations worldwide that collect data from users in EU countries. In fact, it is often incorrectly reported the new privacy mandate applies to just EU citizens, while instead, the regulation concerns data collected from any user who is physically located in an EU country, regardless of nationality. Regardless, it is also obviously impossible to determine whether user data protected by GDPR including cookies, names, email addresses, social media posts and other information belongs to a user with an EU IP address who might just be visiting the region or is a full-fledged EU national.

    Given the far-reaching provision of GDPR that places strict controls on how third parties store and share data and protect their online privacy, GDPR likely will fall under an urgent DevOps project category, requiring the input of the change advisory board (CAB), as well an organization’s IT operations, QA, InfoSec and development teams. The degree to which GDPR will change code deployments and processes will depend on the organization’s business model, of course. GDPR compliance should also require review of qualified legal counsel.

    Meanwhile, Google Analytics says its tools can help organizations to comply with GDPR for data collection policies. These features include cookie settings, privacy controls, data sharing settings, data deletion on account termination and IP anonymization.

    However, as mentioned above, Google still need to provide DevOps with more clarification about certain changes to Google Analytics affecting organization ahead of the May 25 deadline. Many in the DevOps community are also very likely waiting to learn about other ways DevOps can use Google Analytics for GDPR compliance.

    — B. Cameron Gain