Overview

Report Items are the backbone of the SmarterStats application, and every statistic taken from your log files (e.g. Top Paths) is considered a Report Item. Report Items contain a single table of information and optionally, a chart.

Standard Reports and Custom Reports contain various Report Items. For example, a “Webmaster Report” would have a “Top Path” report item, a “Top Entry Pages” report item, etc.

SmarterStats provides a Report Item tree on the left sidebar. Using this sidebar, end-users know all the Report Items that are available for use.

Note: Not all reports are available for users and/or domains. Consult your system or domain administrator for report availability.

Formulating the Graph

You will see a calendar of the current month and fields with drop down menus on the right side.

NOTE: Not all of the options below will be available for each report type.

• Calendar – You can choose any amount of time you wish to base your report on—day, week, or month.
• Rows – You can choose how many rows of usernames you would to have appear—10, 100, 500, 1000, 10,000.
• Sort – This allows you to choose how you want the different usernames sorted. Then you can select if you want it sorted in Ascending or Descending order.
• Chart – allows you to select which type of graph you want your data displayed in.
• Value 1 – This gives you the option of which values you want to use in your graph—None, Total Disk, Junk Email, Deleted Items.
• Value 2 – You can choose if you would like to add a second value to your graph.
• Filter Set – Select a filter set that you have already created. To create a filter set, click the Settings button on the main tool bar, then select Filter Sets from the My Settings folder in the left tree view.
• Spider – You can select from the drop down menu a specific Spider/Bot to track.

Once you have the data which you want shown in the report, click the Get Report button on the right side.

Across the action toolbar there are four icons—Add Favorite, Email, Export, and Print.

• Add Favorite – This will allow you to add this report to your favorites list.
• Email – This will allow you to send another person your report.
• Export – This will allow you to export your report to a file.
• Print – This will allow you to print your graph and chart.

Filter Sets

Filtering specific data out of reports has become simple in SmarterStats. With Filter Sets, you can easily create multiple sets of data to limit the return values of your reports. Create different Filter Sets for each subset of data you want to track, and you can quickly flip between them when viewing reports.

With a filter set active, a separate line-item will appear at the bottom of reports that indicates the totals for the filtered items. In this fashion, the totals that appear in the tables still represent the actual values of your site.

To get started, click the Settings button on the main tool bar, and then select Filter Sets from the My Settings folder in the left tree view.

Adding a Filter Set

1. Click on the Add Filter Set icon from the actions tool bar, or click on the name of a Filter Set to edit it.
2. Filter Name – Enter a short but descriptive name for the filter set.
3. Filters – Enter the items you want to exclude, one per line. Any text field in reports that contains any item in the list will be removed from the report and its values will be added to a summary line. Note: Filters are NOT case sensitive.
4. Enable as active filter set – Enable this to use this set as the default whenever viewing reports.
5. Click on Save icon from the actions tool bar to save the filter set.

Account Settings

This section will allow you to make some basic changes to your settings, and also gives users a method of changing their password.

User

Username – For reference, your username shows here.

New Password – Enter the new password you want to use for your account.

Confirm Password – To prevent data entry errors, please re-enter your new password.

Default Skin – Select a skin from the drop down menu to use for the SmarterStats interface. Note that this option may not be available if your administrator has not chosen to allow other skins.

Report Options

Default Date Range – This is the default date range that will be selected when you log in.

Default Rows – Choose the default number of rows to show in report item tables.

Chart Type – Enable this and select from the drop down menu the types of charts you want utilized within in your reports. When this box is unchecked, all Report Items will display tables only, and no graphics.

Enable Animation – Enable this to turn on chart animations for the Silverlight charts, if enabled.

Enable IP Address Resolution – Enable this to resolve all IP addresses that show up in reports to their host names. Enabling this feature will increase the amount of time it takes to render report items with IP addresses. Your administrator may limit the number of resolutions performed per report item.

Enable auto-generation of Reports on Page Load – Enable this to have reports automatically generated each time you choose one from the menu. Enabling this option will make navigating through the site slower, but will reduce the amount of clicking you have to do to see reports.

Enable randomization of chart colors – Enable this to allow the system to use a semi-random color palette for charts. Each time you refresh a report, it may look different.

Click the Save icon on the actions tool bar to save all changes.

Logging in to SmarterStats

You will need to obtain the link to your SmarterStats server’s web site from your Administrator or Site Administrator.

To login to SmarterStats, type in your Username and Password on the login screen, along with the Site ID that was given to you by your administrator. If everything matches up, you will be presented with the home page for your statistics.

One thing to notice on the Login page is the “Remember Me” checkbox. By checking this box SmarterStats encrypts your login and password, then you can close the browser window and not have to re-log in when you return. This function works as long as you do not “log out” of SmarterStats prior to closing your browser window. If you do log out, you will have to log back in upon your return, regardless of whether the “Remember Me” box was checked or not. You will need cookies enabled on your browser for this feature to work.

Understanding Data Mining

Data Mining is different than other reports. Whereas Custom and Standard Reports provide a general overview of the various statistics available from your log files, Data Mining takes this general information a step further and provides you with fully-detailed reports that allow you to drill-down and analyze your statistical data. These reports are priceless for tracking customers through your ordering process, for seeing which marketing campaigns are providing the highest return on your investment, or for a variety of other tasks requiring a large-scale, fully detailed analysis of your website traffic.

You can begin to perform data mining by either clicking on Reports on the main tool bar and then selecting Data Mining from the left tree view, or by clicking on the data mining icon next to items returned in a report (where applicable).

Scheduled Email Reports

Email Reports gives you the ability to schedule daily, weekly, or monthly reports and have them emailed to you automatically. Weekly Email Reports are sent every Monday morning, and Monthly Email Reports are sent on the first day of every month (information in the Monthly Reports would therefore be for the month previous). Any Standard or Custom Report is able to be sent via email.

The times at which email reports are sent depends on the time zone setting chosen in Site Import Settings.

To get started, click the Reports button on the main tool bar, then select Scheduled Email Reports from the left tree view.

Adding an Email Report

1. Click on the Add Email Report icon from the actions tool bar, or click on the name of an email report to edit it.
2. Report – Choose the standard or custom report you want to email.
3. Frequency – Choose the frequency with which the email will be sent.
4. To – Enter the email address of the recipient. Separate multiple email addresses with semicolons.
5. CC (optional) – Enter any email addresses you want to carbon copy.
6. Subject (optional) – If you wish to override the default subject of the message, enter the new subject here.
7. Message (optional) – If you wish to send a customized message along with the report, enter it here.
8. Email Format – Choose the format to send the email. While HTML emails are easier to read, plain text emails are smaller.
9. Enable graphical charts – Enable this to have charts placed in the email. Graphical charts are only sent in HTML emails.
10. Click on the Save icon on the actions tool bar to finalize the changes.

Favorites

A favorite is a feature of SmarterStats that allows you to save your most requested report items and settings into a simple list for quick recall. Using favorites can greatly reduce your time analyzing statistics, as you can quickly jump between report items that interest you.

In Favorites, a user can create, edit, or delete Favorites. Favorites can also be added using the Add to Favorites icon on the actions tool bar when viewing a report item or when data mining.

Adding a Favorite

1. Click on the Add Favorite icon on the actions tool bar, or click on the name of an existing favorite to edit it.
2. Name – Enter a friendly name for the favorite, if you wish.
3. Default Date Range – Choose the date range you wish to have applied for this item.
4. Rows – Choose the number of rows that you wish to have appear.
5. Sort By – Choose the sort order of the data. Numerical values (like bandwidth, views, etc) will always be sorted in descending order when selected.
6. Default Date Range – Choose the date range you wish to have applied for this item.
7. Chart – Choose the chart style you wish to use for the report. 3D charts will use the perspective setting chosen in My Settings.
8. Values – Choose the values that will be charted. If you have chosen Pie as the chart type, only the first value option will be used.
9. Filter Set – Choose the filter set you wish to have applied for this item.
10. Click OK

My Custom Reports

A custom report is similar to a Standard Report, except Custom Reports grants the user the flexibility of adding any report items that would be most beneficial to them. Custom reports show up in the left sidebar, directly under Standard Reports, and are also available for email reports.

In My Custom Reports, a user can create, edit or delete Custom Reports.

Adding a Custom Report

1. Click on New Custom Report from the Custom Reports folder in the left tree view.
2. Name – Enter a descriptive name for the custom report.
3. Default Date Range – Choose a default date range for the report items in the custom report.
4. Use default date range on all report items – Check this box to allow the same date range to affect all report items in the report. If you wish to allow each report item to override the date range, uncheck the box.
5. Filter Set – If you wish to apply a default filter set to the report items, choose it from the drop-down.
6. Use default filter set on all report items – Check this box to apply the selected filter set to all report items in the custom report. If you uncheck this box, each report item can choose a filter, allowing you to compare different filter sets on the same report.
7. Click on the Save icon from the actions tool bar.
8. Add report items to the custom report, as outlined below.

Adding Report Items to a Custom Report

1. Click on the Report Items tab.
2. Click on the Add Item icon on the actions tool bar to add an item to the list, or click on an existing item’s name to edit it
3. Report Item – Choose the report item that you wish to add. Changing this option may refresh the page with different options. Note: Some of the items below may or may not appear depending on the report item you choose.
4. Name – Enter a friendly name for the report item, if you wish.
5. Rows – Choose the number of rows that you wish to have appear.
6. Sort By – Choose the sort order of the data. Numerical values (like bandwidth, views, etc) will always be sorted in descending order when selected.
7. Date Range – Choose the date range you wish to have applied for this item. Note: This item will not appear if you have chosen to use the default date range for all report items in the report.
8. Chart – Choose the chart style you wish to use for the report. 3D charts will use the perspective setting chosen in My Settings.
9. Values – Choose the values that will be charted. If you have chosen Pie as the chart type, only the first value option will be used.
10. Filter Set – Choose the filter set you wish to have applied for this item. Note: This item will not appear if you have chosen to use the default filter set for all report items in the report.
11. Click on the Save icon in the actions tool bar.

Understanding Standard Reports

As described in the Report Items help topic, Report Items display only one type of statistic taken from your log files. Standard Reports, on the other hand, are a collection of Report Items that serve to convey information as a whole, rather than one piece at a time, and are most beneficial to a particular person or occupation. For example, a Webmaster maintaining a site would find the Webmaster Report to be very beneficial as it includes many Report Items relating to the website (visitor statistics, browsers used, server errors, etc.).

The 7-Day Overview Page

The 7-Day Overview Page is the first thing you will see when logging into your site’s statistics. SmarterTools has organized some of the most useful metrics into the home page for quick reference. Data displayed is for the last 7 days.

• Views and Visits – The number of page views that have happened on a daily basis along with the total number of visits
• Bandwidth Usage (KB) – The total amount of bandwidth used per day
• Top Pages – The top 10 pages that have been hit on your site in the last 7 days
• Top Referrers – The top 10 sites that referred people to your site. It is not unusual to see your own domain near the top of the list
• Search Engines – The top 5 search engines that referred people to your site
• Top Search Phrases – The top 10 search phrases that referred people to your site

Terms Used

Bandwidth – Bandwidth represents the total number of kilobytes that were sent to people visiting your site. Bandwidth includes all resources requested by the users.

Hits – A hit represents a request to your web site for a file such as an image, a web page, or a CGI script. One web page may contain several related resources, and as a result, a visitor viewing one web page may trigger several hits. Hits generated as a result of an error (either a 400 or 500 level error) are not counted as actual hits to your site, and are kept separate from successful hits.

Page – The basic building blocks of any website. A website generally contains a collection of different pages that are accessible and viewable via a web browser. By default, SmarterStats considers the following extensions to be pages: .ASP, .ASPX, .CFC, .CFM, .CFMX, .CFML, .CGI, .HTM, .HTML, .IDA, .IDC, .JHTM, .JHTML, .JSP, .JWS, .MHT, .MHTML, .MV, .PHP, .PHP3, .PHTM, .PHTML, .PL, .SHTM, .SHTML, .STM, .WML, .XDL, .XHTML, .XML.

Page Views – A page view is a successful request for a file on your web site that is considered to be a page. These usually mean files with extensions such as .txt, .asp, .aspx, .php, etc. Views generated as a result of an error (either a 400 or 500 level error) are not counted as actual views for your site, and are kept separate from successful views.

Phrase – A phrase shows the entire search string text used by web users to get to your site.

Referrer Host – The Referrer Host represents the web site from which visitors to your site came from. A value of “No Referrer” represents a visitor typing your web site directly into the browser, using a bookmark, or following a link from an email client.

Search Engine – A search engine is a website whose primary function is providing a search engine for gathering and reporting information available on the Internet or a portion of the Internet

Visits – Visits represent the total number of times people have visited your web site. A visit is counted whenever a web site user requests one or more files from the web server. If the user becomes idle for more than a certain amount of time (usually 20 minutes), a new visit is generated when they come back.