Dashboards: Analytics for the People

Andrew Malis
CEO, Oakland, @andrew_mallis

Google Analytics is a powerful tool, but it can be unwieldy and inscrutable to the uninitiated. The interface offers a ton of information, but how do you know where to quickly find what you need? How do you share a snapshot of a certain metric with stakeholders? And, how do you make sure that everyone’s looking at the same data – particularly when that data is actively changing?



To address these problems, Google has developed a product called Data Studio, that turns analytics data into informational, easy-to-understand reports through data visualization. GDS is steadily gaining in popularity, particularly because access to this previously paid premium feature is now free. It also can pull in data from other sources like Facebook, spreadsheets, or large datasets.



It’s like Analytics meets Powerpoint.



In this workshop, we will

Go from 0-60 on analytics fundamentals and terminology

Speak briefly to the broader landscape of marketing automation and digital marketing strategy

Talk generally about the power of analytics in planning and growing your web presence

Focus on Data Studio to build a dashboard that is meaningful and attractive

Show how to pull data from your Drupal database directly into your report!

Discuss Drupal-specific analytics considerations

Examine other dashboard technologies like Databox, and middleware connectors like Segment

Attendees will as a takeaway receive a google data studio template that their website data will populate, and gain an understanding of how to extend it for their own use. Here is a link to gain access to that template: http://bit.ly/afp-gds

https://drupalnorth.org/en/session/dashboards-analytics-people

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