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How to Set Up and Access Analytics for Your Dashboard or Report
How to Set Up and Access Analytics for Your Dashboard or Report

Learn how to leverage a powerful measurement tool, Google Analytics 4, to track analytics for your Dashboards and Reports

Jennifer Curtis avatar
Written by Jennifer Curtis
Updated over a week ago

As of Jul 1, 2023, mySidewalk has sunset its in-application Dashboard Analytics tool. This tool leveraged Universal Analytics, which Google discontinued.

Customers can still access analytics on their published assets. However, you will not be able to do so within mySidewalk. Instead, you will use Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google’s new measurement tool for tracking audience and page viewing information and statistics.

GA4 is a robust measurement tool that offers our customers far more advanced analytics and custom options than we were able to provide in our former Dashboard Analytics tool. And it can be used to track analytics on any Report or Dashboard you publish.

You will need to take a couple of steps to access your organization’s Dashboard and Report analytics in GA4. First, you will need to create a GA4 property in Google Analytics. Then, you will need to send us your Measurement ID.

Analytics tracking begins only once you have completed the following steps.

Step 1: Create a GA4 Property for your organization. Visit the Google Analytics Admin panel and create a new GA4 property here.

Step 2: Send us your Measurement ID. Once you have created the GA4 property, please provide us with the Measurement ID associated with it. This ID allows mySidewalk to link your Dashboards and Reports to GA4, ensuring your data remains intact and accessible. Please send your Measurement ID using this form.

If you have any questions about how to get set up with Google Analytics 4, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager.

How do I use this to measure success?

It is important to note that the success of a dashboard, as measured by analytics, is very relative. No hard rules or thresholds dictate whether a dashboard is “successful” or “unsuccessful.” However, knowing your metrics can help your team leverage your dashboard more strategically if you have specific goals.

Effective ways to use analytics include:

  1. Measuring the impact of an event or marketing effort (did I get more users after the event? Or after we posted on social media?)

  2. Identifying which portions of your dashboards are the most useful or interesting for your audience (What pages do my users look at the most?)

  3. Learning which of your owned channels - search, social media, or other websites - are the most effective for driving traffic. (Should I put more effort towards Twitter since 75% of my traffic comes from there?)

  4. Informing when and what you should share to websites, news media, or social media to increase views. (We got a bigger influx of views when we posted an image to Twitter than when it was only text. Maybe we should post another image?)

Improve your Dashboard’s Engagement

Although Analytics should never be the only metric for measuring a dashboard’s success, they can give you a deeper understanding of how well you reach your audience.

A critical component of improving engagement is consistently marketing and sharing your dashboard with your community. Residents and stakeholders must know your dashboard exists and what value it can provide them.

To learn more about how to effectively market your dashboard, read our dashboard launch guide or contact your Customer Success Manager. We’re here to help!

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