Creating a Template for Google Analytics: Using Patterns

Templates is the area of Claravine where the Administrator or Manager combines any Field Sets to configure the user’s Submission Table. Administrators will configure templates with the appropriate URL output, link validation, and input and output configurations.

 

For Administrators that need additional information about configuring the prerequisite Template Elements, read the Patterns Overview, Pick Lists Overview, and Field Sets Overview documents.

 

Organizations that use UTM parameters have two options to create their consistent and accurate URLs: creating a basic, UTM URL and creating a UTM ID URL.    Additional information about UTM IDs and Dimensions Widening through Google Analytics. 

 

Using a UTM ID associates a single Key to many Dimensions as defined in Google Analytics without creating extensive and confusing UTM parameters. This article provides instructions to create a UTM ID or UTM URL using Patterns.

 

 

Creating a Template

1. Click Settings on the Navigation menu.

 

2. Click Templates in the Templates Sub-Navigation menu.

               The Templates page displays.

3. Click  to create a New Template.
     The Edit New Template menu displays.

 

There are 3 steps to create a new submission template:
  Step 1 - Setup
  Step 2 - Define and Govern
  Step 3 - Connect

 

 

Step 1 - Setup

1. Enter the Template Name of the template (required).
   
   

2. Enter the Description (optional). It is recommended to enter a description to make it easier to determine the use of the template.
   
   

3. Select the Folder (or create a new folder) this template is assigned to. Templates within a Folder are immediately available to users of a Group if that Folder is assigned to the Group.
   If you create a new Folder, be sure to associate it to the Group so users have access to it.
   
   

4. Check the box Require Submission Name if users must assign a submission name before being able to submit the data.

 You must enter a Template Name and Folder before you can save the template.

 

 

Step 2- Define and Govern

Define and govern Fields, Patterns, and Link.

Define and Govern Fields 

1. Click + Select Fields.
   
   

2. Check the box to select all the fields in the Field Set or click the drop down menu to select individual fields.

 Use the Search field to find a specific field name across all Field Sets.

3. Click Select Fields.

      The fields selected are added to the end of the schema. Fields within a Field Set share the same color in the second column for easy reference.

Add a field into an existing Field Set, or create a new Field Set in the +Add Fields menu. If you are using a Target to send data to Google Analytics, remember to go into the Field Set and assign the Target Mapping.

4. Reorder the fields as they should appear in the user's Submission Table.

   1. Manual: Drag the field into the order you desire.

   2. Custom: Reorder Mode allows the administrator to easily order the fields (reorder menu options left to right).
      
      

      • Move the field to first position

      • Move the field up one position

      • Move the field down one position

      • Move the field to the last position

      • Select the field number to reassign the field order, field number is on the right
        
        

5. All fields default to Visible. Uncheck the box if you want the field to be hidden from the Submission Table view.

 Hide any fields the user does not need to see, such as dependent variables and fields, constant values, autofilled values to reduce the number of columns they do not need to enter a value in.

6. If the Required Field governance has not been assigned at the Field Set level, you can check the Required box per field.
   
   

7. Hover over   to view the Edit options, and click  to remove the field from the template.
   
   

8. If the Field utilizes a drill down list and needs to be defaulted at the template level (e.g. ga.Medium needs to be defaulted to “Paid Social”), hover over   to view the Edit options, and click   and use the drop down menu to Select Filter Value.

   

9. Hover over the Field Type to view the Field Type details. If the field is a List, the list name will be visible. If the field is a drill list and the Filter Value has been set, the list name and default value will be visible.

   
   

Define and Govern Patterns

1. Click + Select Pattern.
   
   

2. Check the box to select the Patterns needed on this template.

 

11. Click Select Patterns.

 The Parent Pattern field (reflects the final Pattern in the user's Submission Table view) and the Pattern’s Element fields appear automatically at the end of the schema.


The Parent Pattern and Element fields share the same color in the second column for easy reference.

12. Define the Pattern to send to Google Analytics as the UTM ID/Key. Hover over   to view the Edit options, and click  to Associate Field Set data to the Pattern. This step indicates to Claravine that the output of the Pattern (e.g. SOC-34E25F4MO) is the UTM ID and the values entered in the fields of the Associated Field Set will be sent to Google Analytics as Dimension metadata.

     Without this association, no metadata will be sent to Google Analytics and the Dimension will be unspecified or blank.

13. If the Pattern Element is a variable it must be defined in the template. The errors icon will indicate a warning that this field must be governed. Hover over   to view the Edit options, and click  to define and govern the Pattern Element variable:

    1. List: Select the List Name and Column.

    2. Autofill: Add the Field from the Field Set to autofill from (see Define and Govern Fields). Transform to autofill values into all capitals, all lowercase, remove spaces, or replace spaces.

    3. Constant: Enter the value.

    4. Text: Select the Type as Text and add governance.

See more details in Schema Tips help section

14.  Click the error icon  to see all errors and warnings on the template. Errors need to be fixed before the template can be saved. Warnings will not block saving the template but should be reviewed to confirm the configuration is accurate.

Define and Govern Link

To add and define a template-generated link:

15. Click + Add Link Field.
        The Link field is automatically added to the end of the schema.

16. Hover over   to view the Edit options, and click   to edit the Link requirements and parameters.
       The Edit Link menu displays.

 

Link Definition

17. Rename the Link column header as seen in the user's Submission Table (optional).
    
    

18. Autofill the Link column from another field in the schema (optional). This is helpful if the user is entering a Vanity URL field and does not want to also enter the URL in the Link column.
    
    

    Customize Link Parameters

    

     

19. Click + Add Parameter to design the UTM parameters to generate the URL as desired.

    1. Enter the landing page parameter as designated (utm_id).

    2. Select the Pattern or other field to populate with this parameter.

    3. Check the box to URL Encode if you want the final URL to be UTF encoded. Encoding the URL will convert any special characters to encoded characters ( colon : becomes %3A, spaces become %20).

    4. Click +Add Parameters to add as many parameters as needed for the URL requirements.

    5. Confirm the final URL is correct in the Current Configuration line.

 

Allowed Domains

20. Input the domain and click Enter after each domain to restrict the domains that are allowed for this template. Leaving this field open allows any domain to be used (optional).
    
    

 

Link Validations

21. Select which Link Validations must be checked when the user enters a domain in the Link column of the user's Submission Table. All Link Validations are defaulted off. Click the box to define the validation checks.
    
    

    1. General Website Validation: Validated general website functionality, the page exists, the Link+Link Parameters will take the consumer to the final destination correctly, tags are firing correctly.

    2. Google Analytics: Validate Google Analytics pixels and Property IDs are tagged correctly on the landing page. These validations confirm the Link is firing and sending data to the same Property that the Pattern and metadata classifications are sending to.

       • Verify Google Pixel: Verify that the links submitted by users fire a Google Analytics Pixel. This validation ensures that URL parameters trigger the correct Pixels on the page.

       • Verify Property ID>Inherit through a Target: Select a Claravine Target to specify which Property ID to check.

       • Verify Property ID>Explore my Properties: Select the Connected Google Analytics Account and select a Property ID to check.

       • Verify Property ID>Input by Hand: Enter the Property ID manually to check.

       • Add multiple Validation configurations to check for several rsid/eVars or Google Property IDs.
         
         

22. Click Done.

 

 

Step 3- Connect

Connect inbound and outbound integrations for this template.

 

Inbound Integrations

Map metadata from a Connected Account to fields in this template as an inbound submission. Use the Inbound Integration to map the inbound data fields to the template fields, when new data is found, Claravine will bring that data in as a new submission. Completed inbound data will be found in Submission, inbound data with errors will be found in Pending as Paused-With Errors submissions.  Request configuration from your Customer Success Manager.

1. Click  to add a new inbound integration.
   

2. Select the Connected Account to map to design the outbound file format to apply to submission data out of Claravine.
   
   
   

3. Follow the instructions for each inbound integration type:

   1. 1. 1. SFTP

         2. AWS S3

         3. Facebook and Google Campaign Manager

 

 Outbound Integrations

Design the outbound file exports, emails, and other outbound metadata from this template.

1. Click  to add a new outbound integration.
   
   

2. Select the Connected Account to map to design the outbound file format to apply to submission data out of Claravine.
   
   
   

3. Follow the instructions for each inbound integration type:

   1. 1. 1. Email

         2. SFTP

         3. AWS S3

         4. Google Analytics

         5. Google Cloud Storage

         6. Box

         7. Azure Blob

         8. Facebook Ads Manager

         9. Google Campaign Manager

         10. Bitly

         11. QR Code Monkey
             
             

4. Click Save to save the template.

 

Template and Schema Tips

TOOL TIP

The Description field will show as a tool tip in the user's Submission Table.

 

ERROR and WARNING

Click on the errors icon at the top of the template schema to view the errors and warnings.

 

The template cannot be saved with any errors or bad configuration. Errors include a variable Pattern Element that has not been defined, a field used in a concatenation that isn’t included in the schema, etc.

 

Warnings notify you if there is a potential issue such as not all columns are used from a list.

 

PREVIEW  

Preview how this template will look in the user's Submission Table without having to navigate away from the template page. Preview is only available after a Template Name and Folder have been assigned.

 

ADD FIELDS and FIELD SET

Add a Field to a Field Set from the Template by clicking . Remember to add Target Mapping on the Field Set if applicable.

Add a Field Set from the Template by clicking +Add Field Set. Find the Field Set and click to add Fields to the Field Set. Remember to add Target Mapping on the Field Set if applicable.

 

REORDER MODE

Reorder the fields how you want them to appear in user's Submission Table seen by the user:

1. Manual: Drag the field into the order you desire.

2. Custom: Reorder Mode allows the administrator to easily order the fields (left to right).

• Move the field to first position

• Move the field up one position

• Move the field down one position

• Move the field to the last position

• Select the field number to reassign the field order, field number is on the right
  
  
  

VISIBLE

All fields default to Visible. Uncheck the box if you want the field to be hidden from the Submission Table view.

Hide any fields the user does not need to see, such as dependent variables and fields, constant values, autofilled values to reduce the number of columns they do not need to enter a value in.

 

 

REQUIRED

If the Required Field governance has not been assigned at the Field Set level, you can check the Required box per field.

 

FIELD TYPE

Hover over the Field Type to view the Field Type details. If the field is a List, the list name will be visible. If the field is a drill list and the Filter Value has been set, the list name and default value will be visible.

 

 

DELETE

Hover over   to view the Edit options, and click  to delete the field.

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PATTERN ELEMENT TYPES

Use the following table to define the Pattern Element variable field type:

 

Pattern Element Type	Description
List	Pick lists allow a defined list of allowable entries the user can select from.  Select the Pick List from the drop-down menu either by scrolling or begin typing the Pick List name. You can also select "Create New List".  If the list you want to use has more than one column, you must specify which column you want the list to populate from.  If the Field utilizes a drill down list and needs to be defaulted at the template level (i.e Global Region needs to be defaulted to “Global North”), hover over   to view the Edit options, and click   and use the drop down menu to Select Filter Value.  For more information read the Pick List Overview article or for more detailed instructions for each of the pick list types see their respective articles: Pick List - Drop Down, Pick List - Dependent, Pick List - Drill Down.
Auto Fill	Select the field you want to automatically duplicate.    TRANSFORM Options in this section auto-transform entries from the autofilled field. Transform: Convert Case: Select uppercase to have all text display in capital letters and lowercase to have all text display in lowercase. Transform: Spaces: Select how spaces auto-transformed.  Options are: None - For no transformation. Replace Spaces - Replaces all spaces the user enters with a character you determine. (Summer_Bash) Remove Spaces - Removes all spaces from the text the user enters. (SummerBash)
Constant	Specify a constant value that you want to always be populated in this template in the Submission Table.
Text	Text fields allow users to manually enter values in the user's Submission Table. Specify the following parameters for text fields: Show Previous Values: Select this option if you want a new value to be added to a dynamic list gathering values entered through a submission. Flag New Values: Select this option if you want users to be alerted that the value they entered has not been used in that field before.  Users have the option to continue and submit the value. If they proceed the new value will not be flagged next time. Use list to provide suggestions: You can specify a drop-down (single column) pick list to populate suggestions for users to choose from, or they can enter their own text. RULES Options in this section establish governance over text entered in this field. If the text does not match any of the governance, the user will receive an error and must correct the text to match the requirement before proceeding. Begins/Ends With: Enter the prefix or suffix you want text fields to be required to begin and/or end with.  *Case sensitive Must Contain: Enter the value you want text fields to always include. *Case sensitive Exclude: Use the drop-down menu to select the appropriate checkboxes to exclude all letters, all numbers, all symbols (special characters and punctuation), or spaces from the value. Custom Exclusion: Enter a custom value you want to exclude from the field. *Case sensitive Exclude as term - Check this box to exclude the Custom Exclusion combination of characters entered above.  This makes the text field act as a "Must not include".  For example, if we have set Toy as an exclude term, Toyota would receive a warning. TRANSFORM Options in this section auto-transform entries the user enters to gain consistent entries in open text fields. Transform: Convert Case: Select uppercase to have all text display in capital letters and lowercase to have all text display in lowercase. Transform: Spaces: Select how spaces should be auto-transformed.  Options are: None - For no transformation. Replace Spaces - Replaces all spaces the user enters with a character you determine. (Summer_Bash) Remove Spaces - Removes all spaces from the text the user enters. (SummerBash) LENGTH Define the minimum and maximum length of characters a user is allowed to enter in open text fields. If the field is optional, set the minimum length to 0. If the length of characters is an exact number, set the minimum and maximum to the same number.