Template builder and use for network analysis
Techniques are described herein for selecting a template for efficient generation of dashboards for the template that derive insights into website performance. A client can provide search criteria, and, in response, the client can view and select a template that matches the context in which the client would like insights into the website data. The client can interact with the selected template to populate dashboards for the selected template. An identification of a metric can be detected for a placeholder field for a dashboard, and a specification of event type(s) to be used in populating the metric can be obtained. The dashboard can be loaded in memory, and user session data can be processed to detect events in the user session data. Metrics can be generated in the dashboard using the events in the user session data. The metric in the dashboard can be displayed at the client device.
1. A method comprising performing, by a server:
obtaining, from a client device associated with a client, one or more search criteria for selecting a template from a set of templates, the one or more search criteria containing at least one keyword related to the set of templates, each template of the set of templates providing one or more dashboards configured to visualize aggregated user session data for a website;
identifying a subset of one or more templates from the set of templates that correspond with contextual information of the one or more search criteria;
obtaining a selection of a first template from the subset of one or more templates, the first template including a dashboard, wherein the first template includes a set of one or more metrics, the first template including one or more placeholder fields comprising inputs for receiving a specification of event types of events to populate the set of one or more metrics by correlating the received event types with event types detected in user session data for the website;
detecting an identification of a metric from the set of one or more metrics based on an interaction with the client device, wherein the metric includes a placeholder field of the one or more placeholder fields, the placeholder field including an input, and wherein the metric has a specified type and is determined using a specified function;
receiving, via the input of the placeholder field, a specification of one or more event types to be used in populating the metric in the dashboard according to the specified function;
loading the dashboard into a memory of the server;
obtaining the user session data of user devices interacting with the website, the user session data including captured data for captured user interactions of the user devices with the website;
detecting user events of the one or more event types in the user session data based on the specification received via the input of the placeholder field;
generating the metric in the dashboard for the website using the obtained user session data processed according to the user events of the one or more event types detected in the user session data; and
causing display of the metric in the dashboard at the client device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metric corresponds to a template metric object that is stored in a client-specific metric table, and wherein the first template stores a pointer to the template metric object for use in determining the metric based on the placeholder field.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the placeholder field is one of a function field, a column field, or a segment field.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the interaction with the client device includes a selection of a first column of a client-specific table, wherein the first column corresponds to a first event type of the one or more event types, the first event type being a client-specific event type.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the metric includes a dimension placeholder field of the one or more placeholder fields, the method comprising:
receiving a first dimension type for the dimension placeholder field, the first dimension type corresponding to a second column of the client-specific table, wherein the display of the metric is grouped by values of the first dimension type as provided in the second column of the client-specific table.
6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising creating the first template, the creating including:
receiving selections of the specified type and the specified function from a list of predetermined types and functions; and
receiving an attribute value of a column of the client-specific table that is populated using the user session data, wherein the attribute value selects sessions of the client-specific table having the attribute value to be used in generating the metric.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the attribute value is whether a user session included a set of one or more specified pages of the website.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
receiving one or more additional attribute values, each corresponding to a set of one or more pages of the website; and
receiving an order of the sets of one or more pages, wherein the metric is respectively displayed for each set of one or more pages according to the order.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specified type is selected from an aggregate or a rate, and wherein the specified function is selected from a list of functions for determining the aggregate or the rate.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the specification of one or more event types includes an event ID that occurs in the user session data, and wherein the event ID is specific to the client.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the events are detected using capture agents executing on user devices.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing an alert responsive to detecting that the metric exceeded a threshold, wherein the alert provides a link to the dashboard.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more search criteria specify any of a context that corresponds with the website or a desired output from any template, and wherein the identifying of the subset of one or more templates includes:
identifying, for each of the subset of one or more templates, that terms for the one or more search criteria match terms provided in a description for each template of the subset of one or more templates.
14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subset of one or more templates includes is a subset of templates, the method further comprising
causing display of the subset of templates to the client device, wherein each template of the subset of templates include a corresponding description describing each template.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
storing a template metric in a glossary, wherein a plurality of dashboards installed for a plurality of clients link to the template metric;
retrieving metric values from the plurality of dashboards;
determining a statistical value from the metric values; and
providing the statistical value to the plurality of dashboards.
16. A computer product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions that, when executed, control a computer system to perform a method including:
obtaining, from a client device associated with a client, one or more search criteria for selecting a template from a set of templates, the one or more search criteria containing at least one keyword related to the set of templates, each template of the set of templates providing one or more dashboards configured to visualize aggregated user session data for a website;
identifying a subset of one or more templates from the set of templates that correspond with contextual information of the one or more search criteria;
obtaining a selection of a first template from the subset of one or more templates, the first template including a dashboard, wherein the first template includes a set of one or more metrics, the first template including one or more placeholder fields comprising inputs for receiving a specification of event types of events to populate the set of one or more metrics by correlating the received event types with event types detected in user session data for the website;
detecting an identification of a metric from the set of one or more metrics based on an interaction with the client device, wherein the metric includes a placeholder field of the one or more placeholder fields, the placeholder field including an input, and wherein the metric has a specified type and is determined using a specified function;
receiving, via the input of the placeholder field, a specification of one or more event types to be used in populating the metric in the dashboard according to the specified function;
loading the dashboard into a memory of the computer system;
obtaining the user session data of user devices interacting with the website, the user session data including captured data for captured user interactions of the user devices with the website;
detecting user events of the one or more event types in the user session data; based on the specification received via the input of the placeholder field;
generating the metric in the dashboard for the website using the obtained user session data processed according to the user events of the one or more event types detected in the user session data; and
causing display of the metric in the dashboard at the client device.
17. The computer product of claim 16 , wherein the metric corresponds to a template metric object that is stored in a client-specific metric table, wherein the first template stores a pointer to the template metric object for use in determining the metric based on the placeholder field, wherein the specification of one or more event types includes an event ID that occurs in the user session data, and wherein the event ID is specific to the client.
18. The computer product of claim 16 , wherein the interaction with the client device includes a selection of a first column of a client-specific table, wherein the first column corresponds to a first event type of the one or more event types, the first event type being a client-specific event type.
19. The computer product of claim 18 , wherein the metric includes a dimension placeholder field of the one or more placeholder fields, and the method further includes:
receiving a first dimension type for the dimension placeholder field, the first dimension type corresponding to a second column of the client-specific table, wherein the display of the metric is grouped by values of the first dimension type as provided in the second column of the client-specific table.
20. The computer product of claim 18 , wherein the method further includes creating the first template, the creating including:
receiving selections of the specified type and the specified function from a list of predetermined types and functions; and
receiving an attribute value of a column of the client-specific table that is populated using the user session data, wherein the attribute value selects sessions of the client-specific table having the attribute value to be used in generating the metric.