Google Analytics Connector

Overview

The Google Analytics Connector syncs Google Analytics data with Cascade CMS to provide users with basic analytics information for Sites, Pages, Files, and Folders.  Site analytics data is available through the addition of a dashboard widget.  All other analytics data can be found on the Analytics pane of each asset.

Creating a Google Analytics Connector

To create a Google Analytics Connector:

  1. Navigate to Manage Site > Connectors.
  2. Navigate to the container in which the new Connector will be stored, or create a new container using Add > Container.
  3. Click Add > Connector.
  4. Select Google Analytics and then click Choose.
    • If your selected site already has a Google Analytics Connector, you won't be able to add another unless you delete the existing Connector first.
  5. In the Name field, enter the name for your Connector.
  6. In the Parent Container field, select a container for your Connector, if desired.
  7. In the View ID field enter the numeric View ID of the profile you wish to pull data from in Google Analytics.
    • Note that this is NOT the same as the Tracking ID (UA-XXXXXX-X).
      Google Analytics View Settings Screen
  8. Optionally, enter a value for the Base Path field.
    • The Base Path is a path segment that is removed from URLs imported from Google Analytics to help Cascade determine which asset corresponds to a particular URL.
    • An example of when the Base Path could be used is when a site in Cascade corresponds to a sub-folder off of a particular domain. For instance, an athletics-oriented site might be published to www.myuniversity.edu/athletics. In Cascade, there is no "athletics" folder because it is represented by a site. The URLs coming from Google Analytics, however, look like "/athletics/index.html".  In order for Cascade to be able to match the URL to a particular page inside Cascade, it would need to know that "/athletics" should be removed from the URL in order to successfully locate the matching Page "index".
  9. Click Submit.

Verifying/Unverifying the Google Analytics Connector

To verify/unverify your Google Analytics Connector:

  1. While viewing (but not editing) the Connector, click Verify.
  2. A new link will appear that says Click here to allow and "Verify" again.
  3. The link will open a new window/tab to Google to grant Cascade access to the Google Analytics account.
  4. If you're not already logged in, enter the account credentials which have access to the profile.
  5. Click Grant Access.
    Google verification screen. 
  6. Now that Cascade has access to the Google Analytics account, go back to the Connector window and click the original Verify link again.
Your Google Analytics connector is now enabled. To manually synchronize the analytics data, click the link labeled Click to manually import analytics data. Otherwise, no analytics data will be available until the next automatic synchronization which will occur at 1:30 am.