Of all the Adobe products out there I use ColdFusion almost exclusively (not counting reading PDF's with Acrobat), so my list will be very slanted towards items I would love to see from an Omniture + ColdFusion perspective, that would make my job of implementing and optimizing the Omniture code & tags easier. That being said, this list below could easily be ported over to whatever development platform the site to be tracked is built on.

1) Tag library integration / validation within the soon to be released ColdFusion IDE - CF Builder. Much like the integrated JS libraries that can be added to other Eclipse based IDE's

2) Dedicated AJAX support - ok, so maybe this one has nothing to do with ColdFusion specifically but it would be great to have a defined/dedicated AJAX tag like s.trackAJAX() instead of having to use the custom link tracking s.tl() to track AJAX events. More and more of what I do is on RIA, AJAX heavy elements where a user/web visitor can spend a long time and make many clicks on AJAX elements without ever triggering a page reload.

3) Native integration with the ColdFusion session variables to by default populate many of the page specific variables to send to Omniture. (pageName, server, channel, etc.)

4) Built in tags to use the Data Insertion API to push data into Omniture as an alternative to the JS Beacon. Having this as a CF tag, might make it easier to accomplish #2 above.

5) Community. The Adobe ColdFusion is a loyal and active community and serves as a great example of the effectiveness of having a great active and supported developer community.

6) Enhance documentation by creating Adobe AIR versions such as this. I use this version of the Adobe Live Doc's all the time. Very handy!

So, there it is. My 2/5's of a nickel on what I would love to see as a results of the Adobe(ColdFusion) + Omniture integration.

-Rudi

PS. The original tweet request for the wish list made me instantly think of a quote my mom often repeated to me when I would say "I Wish...."

“If wishes were horses beggars would ride”

Share/Save

The vast majority of ColdFusion sites I've work on in the past are not public sites, and historically there have been little, if any concern for web analytics.  Sure, we had basic usage data, but nothing close to the level of detail that Omniture can provide.  This goes beyond SEO, and just numbers for the marketing department.  It is the ability to gain a true understanding of what your users are doing on your applications.  Which features they really use and which ones they don't.   Imagine building a web application and being able to have the data to drive the design of navigation and layout of these web apps.  Imagine having the data to take to the decision  makers to prove the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of certain features.  This is what Omniture can do you for.

At it's most basic level, the Omniture code is a Javascript file that you will include on every page of your web application or public web site.  On every page load, the JavaScript file makes an image request to Omniture and in doing so, sends the tracking data to Omniture and is then available within their tools to analyze and slice in almost any way imaginable.   Combine this with the power of ColdFusion and the possibilities are dizzying, especially when you start thinking about adding this type of tracking to Flex, Air, and of course Flash applications as well.

Most public sites rely heavily on other JavaScript functions to get any data beyond the basic implementation, but with ColdFusion you have one of the most powerful web languages at your disposal to easily gather and send much more advanced levels of data into Omniture.  I have posted several articles here that demonstrate a few things you can leverage ColdFusion for and send the data into Omniture:

• Social Media Data
• Hierarchy Data
• Build Custom XML for Data Insertion
• Custom Video Tracking

I've only been exposed to and been working with the Omniture code for a few months and I'm still learning how powerful this data can be, but I'm a true believer in the value it can bring.  If you made it this far in the past, thanks, and take a look around.  I will be the first to tell you that by no means do I consider myself to be an expert, but I am very excited about the things I have been able to do with Omniture & ColdFusion and I am looking forward to what the merger of Adobe & Omniture could mean for the ColdFusion community.

-Rudi

Share/Save

I've been busy for the past few months working to integrate Omniture into our web site, and I have made a lot of good progress and I was quite sure that there was still much to learn in the training, however, I was not prepared for how much I still had to learn.

Despite all I had managed to learn on my own, and the resources I had managed to find on the web, there were some basic concepts that had escaped me (and will be rectified):

Core understanding of the 4 types of Omniture variables. (Traffic, Conversion, Configuration, Automatic):
I had a basic grasp on how each of these variables worked, but had not wrapped my head around how each of these variables not only related to other variables of the same type,  but how to properly format and track each one to maximize the detail you can achieve within SiteCatalyst.

Clearly define business goals & requirements before you code
In the process of jumping head first into the coding and figuring out ways to get the data we needed into Omniture, the critical step of getting all the goals defined and updating our Solution Design Document to reflect the goals was skipped.

Have Client Care enable additional features:
Yet another seemingly simple item of having pathing enabled, and adding additional metrics to variables , was missed.

There are a few other small things that I might go into more detail later, but this is as much ignorance on this topic I wish to share at this time.   The major item I am taking away from this training is that no matter how much you think you know, there is always something else to learn.

I would also like to give kudos to the trainers from Omniture!  Our instructor, Doc Cochran, was extremely knowledgeable about SiteCatalyst, and took the time to make sure that any and all of our questions were answered.   He also had a great way of relating each example/item to a real world scenario that all could benefit from.

From this class I have a full list of items to review and address once I am back at work and I am looking forward to applying the new knowledge and getting the full benefit from our investment in Omniture.

_______

I would also like to thank the other Omniture employees that I was able to meet with to discuss past and future initiatives we are working on.   It was great to be able to sit face to face and talk though some past successes and challenges with these folks.

_______

Lastly, it was a little on the surreal side to be in Orem when the news broke that Adobe was buying Omniture.  There are been many, many articles written about this and I will throw in my 2/5's of a nickel.   As a ColdFusion developer I have worked with many folks in the Adobe community for some time and have always been impressed with the dedication to innovation that is part of Adobe's culture.   I truly think that this is a great fit and the communities of both products/companies should benefit greatly from this merger.   I am looking forward to seeing how they will be able to tie the technologies together.

I had an absolutely great trip to Utah.  I learned tons, met great people, and soaked in the amazing landscapes!

-Rudi

Share/Save