SiteAudit and Simulations: What’s the difference?

ObservePoint ObservePoint Data AssuranceTag Auditing SiteAudit and Simulations

SiteAudit and Simulations: What’s the difference?

ObservePoint ObservePoint Data AssuranceTag Auditing SiteAudit and Simulations

Data Quality Management is certainly a hot topic these days. Everyone understands that tags aren’t easy to deploy and are difficult to maintain, and this contributes to headaches and data quality problems for a sweeping variety of digital marketing efforts. When it comes to the practical aspects of managing data quality, several layers of analysis and protection are useful.

At ObservePoint, these layers are rolled up into two features of our enterprise DQM platform; we call them SiteAudit and Simulations.

Data Quality Management

SiteAudit and Simulations: What’s the difference?

ObservePoint ObservePoint Data AssuranceTag Auditing SiteAudit and Simulations

Site Audits are periodic scans of specific segments of web sites. They’re snapshot views of the tags and technologies deployed on digital content, at a specific moment in time. Audits collect data for OnPageLoad and OnClick events, and they also track some page performance data such as page load time, HTTP Status code, and tag load order.

Think of SiteAudit like a home inspection. Most of the time we think of this from the home owner’s perspective, as a process to inform the buyer about potential problems with the home. In reality the inspection is a requirement of the mortgage lender. The lender, who is making a large financial investment, wants a certification that they are investing in a sound asset. If the home fails to pass inspection, they will refuse to fund the loan. The inspection may be prescriptive, indicating that certain things should be fixed.

SiteAudit

SiteAudit and Simulations: What’s the difference?

ObservePoint ObservePoint Data AssuranceTag Auditing SiteAudit and Simulations

The inspection and SiteAudit are similar in all of these ways, and the investor (the business) may refuse to continue financing program that fails to meet its standards. SiteAudit generates prescriptive information to bring tag deployments and data quality up to your standards.

Site Audits are Prescriptive

SiteAudit and Simulations: What’s the difference?

ObservePoint ObservePoint Data AssuranceTag Auditing SiteAudit and Simulations

Simulations are targeted, high-frequency tests of specific content under specific conditions. They differ from audits in that you specify exactly what content to load, and what conditions to simulate on each test. When a test fails, ObservePoint generates an alert. Simulations are most effectively used on content that is proximate to reportable metrics, since a majority of operational data relies on some key content. You’re informed when tracking errors are detected.

Think of Simulations like different sensors in your home – smoke detectors, carbon monoxide detectors, motion sensors, glass breakage sensors, water and humidity sensors, etc. These devices focus on specific areas and specific dangers, and are monitoring for these threats around the clock. When a sensor is tripped, an alarm sounds. With these sensors in place, you have security that your property is protected over time from specific threats.

Simulations

SiteAudit and Simulations: What’s the difference?

ObservePoint ObservePoint Data AssuranceTag Auditing SiteAudit and Simulations

Sensors and Simulations are similar in all of these ways, and as a homeowner, you want to be alerted any time an event occurs that threatens your property (your home or your data). Simulations generate alerts so that when tags fail (and they do!) you will be able to take immediate action.

Audits and Simulations work hand-in-hand to provide prescription to improve and protection from data quality problems. By applying the practices outlined in the data quality management process, you will be able to keep your company running on clean, consistent digital marketing data.

Think your data can use some clean-up and protection? Get in touch with us for a free tag audit.

Simulations are Preventative and The Bottom Line