Creating Webtrends Analytics Profiles

This article describes the kind of information stored in report profiles and provides instructions for creating a profile using the Basic and Advanced profile wizards.

How Profiles Work

Profiles specify all of the information needed to generate reports from a web data file. They define the location of your web server data and how it should be analyzed. For example, profiles can specify information such as:

• The type of web data Webtrends analyzes and where to find it
• Whether your web site resides on a single server or on multiple servers
• The location of your home page
• Whether to apply data filters
• Which users can access the profile
• Which reports to create
• When to update reports

Each profile is associated with a set of log files from which it draws data and one or more templates, which determine the set of reports that can be rendered from the analyzed data. When you analyze a profile, Webtrends creates a set of Report databases. You can use Webtrends Analytics Reports to view reports for a specified profile and template based on the data in the Report databases.

Profile Creation

To begin creating a profile:

1. In the left pane, click Administration > Web Analysis > Reports & Profiles.
2. Click New.

Using the Profile Wizard

Webtrends allows you to create profiles in two modes. In the Basic mode of profile creation, Webtrends uses the most common settings to produce reports quickly with minimum configuration. The Basic mode creates a Standard Full-Featured Analysis profile. You can also use the Advanced profile settings to customize your profile by providing more information about your web data, your site configuration, and your reporting preferences.

To create a profile using the Basic wizard:

1. In the Profile Name dialog, provide a name for your profile and specify the web site domain name.
2. If you are a Webtrends On Demand user, specify the time zone you want to use when displaying your reports.
3. In the Data Sources dialog, specify a data source (if you have already configured one) or create a new data source. A data source identifies the location of the web data that you want to track with this profile.
4. In the Report Packs dialog, specify the licensed report packs you want to use with the current profile. Report Packs determine what kinds of reports Webtrends creates, and thus the type of data included in reports for this profile.
5. In the Session Tracking dialog, specify how to identify user sessions for the profile.
6. In the Summary dialog, review your settings.

Advanced Profile Settings

Use the Advanced Profile settings if you want to configure special Webtrends features such as:

• Advanced SmartView reports
• Profile analysis scheduling (Webtrends software users only)
• Advanced reporting features including:
  • Campaign and Scenario Analysis
  • Content Group Analysis
  • Hit and Visit Filters
  • URL Parameter Analysis
  • URL Search and Replace

Click Additional Settings in the last wizard dialog to access these advanced settings.

You should also use Advanced Profile settings if you want to create special types of profiles such as Parent-Child profiles.

To create a profile using the Advanced Profile settings:

1. In the Profile Name dialog, provide a name for your profile and specify the web site domain name.
2. If you are a Webtrends On Demand user, specify the time zone you want to use when displaying your reports.
3. Select the Advanced profile options check box. You see the Advanced Profile Options dialogs in the wizard listed in the left column.
4. Click Next to complete the dialogs. To configure more profile options than the wizard provides, click Additional Settings in the Summary dialog.

Advanced Profile Dialogs

The following dialogs are included in the Advanced Profile wizard. Dialogs marked with an asterisk (*)may not be displayed depending on the wizard settings you choose. However, choosing Advanced Settings will typically display all the dialogs for the Advanced Profile wizard.

Data Sources
Specifies the location of the web data file.

General
Specifies the portion of the log to analyze, whether to retrieve HTML page titles, whether to enable Express Analysis, and time zone behavior. (If you are a Webtrends On Demand user, specifies the time zone to be displayed when displaying reports).

Home*
Specifies the location of the site home page.

Host Binding*
Specifies whether analysis should run only on certain computers or groups of computers.

Page File Types*
Specifies which file types Webtrends counts as page views.

Parent Child*
Specifies the settings used to create a Parent-Child profile.

Post-Analysis*
Specifies whether any programs should run immediately after analysis.

Pre-Analysis*
Specifies whether any programs should run immediately before analysis.

Profile Class
Specifies the type of web data to use and whether to create a standard, Event Database, or Parent-Child report.

Profile Name
Specifies the name of the profile, the site domain name (used to identify the SmartView domain and the web site URL) and (for Webtrends On Demand users) the time zone.

Schedule
Specifies when analysis should occur.

Session Tracking*
Specifies whether to apply profile-specific settings for tracking user sessions.

Site Configuration*
Specifies whether the web server resides on one server or multiple servers.

URL Rebuilding*
Specifies whether to apply settings that modify URLs before analysis to provide more accurate reporting.