SharePoint and Google Analytics

SharePoint on-premises is a popular portal solution, used by thousands of organizations globally.

SharePoint 2010 had a built-in web analytics feature that did a decent job of showing how users interact with the portal, but Microsoft decided to remove certain web analytics features with SharePoint 2013 and onward.

Many SharePoint customers use Google Analytics, since it’s free (up to 10 mil events) and contains lots of useful reports.

Unfortunately, Google Analytics isn’t able to provide a complete picture of activity on SharePoint sites:

No PII

Google’s Terms of Service doesn’t allow customers to store Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in Google Analytics.

When users login to SharePoint to access documents / pages / information, Google Analytics doesn’t show usernames and the documents viewed by that username.

If you need to audit file access for compliance or security purposes, GA can’t show you this information.

Missing File Downloads

To track file downloads, Google Analytics requires JavaScript. If a file is directly linked from a website or in an email, Google Analytics doesn’t “see” the download.

Data Sampling

GA frequently uses report sampling for high traffic sites, which is frustrating when you need details.

No Data Protection

This primarily applies to Intranets and secure environments.

SharePoint URLs frequently contain sensitive information about customers or employees. Google stores your data in its global cloud network.

When data is stored outside your network, data protection is difficult to maintain.

SharePoint Web Analytics Solution

SharePoint On-Premises sits on top of an IIS server, and IIS creates a daily access log.

These logs can be processed by self-hosted web analytics software, which alleviates all the above issues and provides:

  • Data Protection
  • Unblockable Tracking
  • Full Visitor Details
  • Monitoring for Sensitive Files
  • Usage Cost Reporting

Angelfish is self-hosted web analytics software which provides detailed reports about how users interact with your SharePoint websites, and has a comprehensive API for populating corporate dashboards.

SharePoint Web Analytics Software.