Online solution for Report Archiving

The Client

The client is a leading global enterprise in the field of interactive software.

The Need

We were approached by a client who has web analytics reporting needs spread across different geographies like Europe, Australia and Brazil. A reporting system was needed which could:

• Act as an online repository for all their reporting requirements. Publish various web analytics metrics and reports on a single platform.
• Allow users to log in and browse through reports of various geographies, archived by reporting time lines. This would enable their teams across geographies to not only easily access their own market's reports, but also view reports from their counterparts for reference.
• Eliminate the need to transfer reports via mails and maintain huge databases at their end.
• Enable the users to interact over reports, exchange queries, observations, requests etc.
• Restrict access to data by having unique log-in IDs for users.

The Solution

• After evaluating different options, we finalized on creating an online publishing platform with the help of Media Wiki.
• We created a Wiki which was a collection of multiple interlinked web pages. This was created using simplified markup language, thus avoiding the need for a web designer to create additional pages, format the wiki, edit etc. in the future.
• All these pages had GA tags embedded in them for easy tracking.
• This web based knowledge management system could be accessed by multiple user log ins and implementation of 'user access control' prevented unauthorized access.

Salient features of the Wiki:

Layout:

• A clean layout with 'navigation' and 'search' tabs to simplify the user experience.
• A summary of the reports is available on the main page, categorized by 'weekly' and 'monthly' reporting frequencies.
• A 'reporting guide' which explains the flow of the report and helps the user interpret it better.
• A 'site list' which gives a summary of the various sites being tracked per market.
• Business heads, managers, market representatives for each region are listed under 'Country contacts'

Uploading a report:

• Easy to upload interface
• A log of all new uploads and deletions maintained in the 'Upload' log. A user contribution list helps keep a track of all the additions, deletions and edits made by a user to the Wiki.
• Option of 'watch this page', to track the viewership of the report.
• Images can also be uploaded along with the report for value addition.

Report Archives:

• Reports arranged by months and then further broken down into weeks and territories for easy reference.
• All reports are accompanied by a detailed description of the metrics.

Glossary:

• A guide to all the reporting terminologies arranged alphabetically for easy reference.

User Management:

• There is one admin and multiple users of the Wiki. The admin is responsible for the overall upkeep of the Wiki.
• Only the admin has the rights to upload/modify content on the website. Other users just have viewing rights.

The Benefits

• In an organization with multiple decision units, this collaborative platform makes it easier for a single report to be circulated among various markets.
• Instead of sharing reports across teams by e-mail, they can now be easily shared by uploading them on to the Wiki. Users can easily browse through reports created over a period of time and avoid the hassle of keeping a track of multiple emails and folders at their end.
• Easily browse through multi -market reports, cross-refer various metrics and compare reports with a single click.
• Each page of the Wiki can be tracked. The number of report views, changes made to the report, queries raised per report etc. can now be easily monitored.
• Version control helps keep a track of every change/edit made to a report.
• Multiple categorization of reports for quick reference. Reports can be sorted by time frame (monthly/weekly) and by territory.
• Due to the sensitive nature of the reports, user level access control has been implemented so as to avoid any data manipulation and information leakage. Also, all the changes made to the reporting templates are tracked and a log of user activity is created so as to monitor online activity of the users.