We now come to the second distinct way of Classifying Variable – Whether they are Configuration Variable or Not.
The final type of variable in Adobe Analytics which we are going to study is “Configuration Variable”.
What are Configuration Variables?
Configuration variables determine how the data is collected and processed in Reports & Analytics. These variables are basically high level settings. Hence, we set them in the appmeasurement.js.
Examples of Configuration Variables ?
- s.account : This is where we declare the Report Suite ID
- s.dynamicAccountSelection : Used to dynamically select the Report Suite based on the URL of the page
- s.charSet : Used to translate character set of the web page into UTF-8
- s.currencyCode : Used to determine the conversion rate to apply to revenue
- s.cookieDomain : We use it to determine the domain where we store cookies. I will do a detailed post on cookies used in Adobe Analytics
- s.cookieDomainPeriods : Use it to determine the domain where we store cookies by setting the number of periods. Example : Consider that you have a website of the form : www.demosite.com.au. You can then declare the domain period where you want to set the cookies. In this case the value is 3
- s.cookieLifetime : Used to determine the lifetime value of cookie
- s.linkDownloadFileTypes : Used to determine the different type of file type downloads we want to track
Above are some configuration variables which we use commonly. Please note, this is in no way an exhaustive list. An exhaustive list can be found here.
How do they look like ?
Recollect the different scenarios and see where do these fit in.
- Scenario A) Depending on the values: whether they are Dynamic OR Static
- Dynamic & Static both. It can be dynamic in case of variables like s,dynamicAccountSelection
- Scenario B) Depending on the type of value it holds: whether it is a normal variable OR an array
- Both. Variables like s.linkDownloadFileTypes contain a CSV so it is an array type
- Scenario C) Depending on the type of data it stores & How it is reported: Dimension OR Metrics
- Not applicable as these configuration variables dont collect data themselves for reporting. These just help in that process
- Scenario D) Depending on the need for definition: whether they are predefined (built in) OR not predefined (custom)
- Predefined. All of these are predefined
- Scenario E) Depending on the type of capture: Whether their values are captured automatically OR need definition
- Values need definition
So, these are the different types of Configuration Variables which we use in Adobe Analytics.
Non Configuration Variables
The complimentary set of all the other variables form the set of non configuration Variables. So, traffic and conversion variables also fall in this bucket. The automatic variables also fall under this bucket. This is it – hope you now have a very detailed understanding of Variables in Adobe Analytics. I encourage you to make a mind map or a tree diagram which will really aid in faster understanding.