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Reports & Dashboard FAQ

Use this FAQ for a quick look at how to use The Commerce Cloud Reports & Dashboards app. For more detailed information, Salesforce recommends that you reference the Reports & Dashboards documentation.

Updated January 1, 2021

Updated January 1, 2021
What is Reports & Dashboards? Commerce Cloud Reports & Dashboards provides enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities. Reports & Dashboards gives business users easy-to-read dashboards that offer insight into revenue, top selling products, profitability of promotions, and more. Ecommerce teams can: Track revenue for a selected period to see daily highs and lows. Review the performance of Einstein Recommendations and identify optimization opportunities. See top-selling products down to the SKU level and identify co-buying product trends to identify movers and shakers such as products that have a significant sales increase over a previous period. Track promotion performance and profitability. Review dashboards across digital channels and select custom date ranges to compare sites, customer or device types, and more. See results for a single site or across all sites within a realm and for a specified period. View technical metrics for requests and response times for controllers and OCAPI. See real-time sales and performance for select data, updated to the minute.
What are the benefits of Reports & Dashboards? The Reports & Dashboards app calculates reliable storefront performance data. Merchandisers, marketers, and ecommerce teams can use the data to make smarter, more informed business decisions across sales, promotions, and products. For example, business users can easily filter by customer type, site, locale, device type and much more. The Reports & Dashboards app provides the accuracy and granular insight that third-party analytics providers and previous Business Manager capabilities don’t.
How do I set up User Access?> A user with Account Manager administrator credentials grants user access to the Reports & Dashboards portal. The administrator sets up user access by adding a Reports & Dashboards role in Account Manager. Set up User Access documentation. If you require site-specific access management for Reports & Dashboards, ask your Salesforce Success Manager for assistance.
How is data collected? Are there differences between how Business Manager Analytics and Reports & Dashboards collect data? All Historical Reports reporting relies on your storefront templates, including calls to Analytics reporting URLs. These calls are recorded in logs, which populate the Analytics reports in Business Manager. The specific integration differs between SiteGenesis and the Salesforce Reference Application (SFRA). Reports & Dashboards collects data for most reports automatically by an event such as order creation or adding to a cart on the B2C Commerce application. There are some exceptions. Site Search Reports. To improve performance of on-site search, some search results are cached and don’t call back to the application. In order to ensure that all searches are captured, make sure that your developers confirm that your storefront templates meet these requirements: `<isobject view…>` tags–isobject Element. `<isobject view=”searchhit”>` is used on search results pages to indicate each product returned within a search result. `<isobject view=”none”>` is used on the no search results page to indicate a no results search. `<isactivedatahead>` is included in the head of your search results and no search results page templates-Add isactivedatahead Tags. `<isanalyticsoff/>` isn’t included in your search results and no search results page templates. If this tag is present, search doesn’t track correctly–isanalyticsoff Element. Traffic Reports. In order to categorize human visits vs bot visits, use these tags:`<isactivedatahead>` To track traffic, include this tag on all pages–Add isactivedatahead Tags. `<isanalyticsoff/>` Ensure that this tag isn’t present on any pages that track analytics. If tracking must be turned off for certain pages, use this tag to prevent traffic tracking–isanalyticsoff Element. Traffic, Shopper Journey dashboard. Because checkout steps can vary by site, setup the checkout steps reporting for your site. Tag each step in checkout templates to give Reports & Dashboards the correct step number and name for your checkout process. See the Checkout URL Pattern section of the Analytics Reporting URL Patterns documentation of implementation guidance. Einstein reporting relies on Einstein activity tracking, see: Developer QA guidelines.
Can I view Reports & Dashboard data for my development and staging instances? The Reports & and Dashboards are only available for your Production instance.
Are there filters on data collection such as automatic bot or spam traffic filters? There are no filters at data collection. But you can identify and classify traffic reports by robot and nonrobot requests.
How does the platform identify a bot in the Top Robots report in Traffic? Reports & Dashboards filters out data as a robot if one of these conditions is met. Page count is zero and no order was placed User agent class is blank and no order was placed User agent class is crawler and no order was placed User agent class is unrecognized and no order was placed The first case of a zero page count indicates that no javascript code was run. A user who didn’t load javascript is likely a robot session. The list of crawler user agent classes comes from a third-party source.
My realm has multiple sites. When I first land on the dashboard do I see consolidated metrics for all my sites? Yes. By default, you see consolidated metrics from all sites within the realm. You can filter by site and locale for a more granular view.
How is currency collected and displayed? For every order the system processes, Reports & Dashboards uses an externally provided exchange rate to convert the local currency that’s used to place the order. Order totals are converted from local currency to the realm and site configured currencies. The realm currency is configured in Reports & Dashboards administration settings. The site currency is configured in Business Manager. The local currency also is converted to US dollars (USD). When viewing reports, if you select sites that have different currencies, all values appear in the realm currency. But if you select sites with the same site currency, all values appear in the site currency.
Can I change the reporting currency for my analytics? Yes, a Reports & Dashboards admin can change the report currency. Note: After the currency is changed, the historical data doesn’t change. A currency change is at the platform level, not the user level. Salesforce recommends that you set the correct realm currency during site setup.
When exporting the individual reports, why is the data in USD when my site doesn’t use this currency? Exported reports include monetary values in three currencies. Currencies are converted where necessary based on an exchange rate provided by an external service. Realm currency `(prefix std_)` is configured in Reports & Dashboards. Site currency `(prefix ste_)` is the default site currency configured in Business Manager. Data is populated only when all reported sites use the same site currency. USD `(prefix usd_)`
When is an order counted in Reports & Dashboards? An order is counted when it’s successfully placed and persisted to the B2C Commerce platform database. Generally, an order is counted when an order confirmation page indicates a successful order. If the order is changed such as when it’s canceled, the Reports & Dashboards app isn’t updated.
The Sales dashboard shows the device breakdown. When is a device Unknown? Device information is derived from user agent info. Unknown is when device type can't be determined from the user agent info.
What constitutes the channels Storefront, Endless Aisle, Customer Service Center, Call Center, and Marketplace? Channels typically are set in code during basket creation. See: Order Origination Attributes documentation
What do the referrers direct and internal mean in the Top Referrers Traffic report? Traffic is classified as direct when there’s no referrer information. Traffic is classified as internal when the top-level domain in the referrer information is the same as the storefront.
My Company wants to generate a new REALM ID and move an existing site to the new realm (Realm Split). Which Reports & Dashboards analytic elements don’t transfer to the new realm? Payment instruments associated with orders can’t be transferred. The instruments are encrypted data, which require the seeds. Historical Reports data starts fresh in the new realm. From the Reports & Dashboards dropdown, you can choose the old realm ID and find historical data. After the new realm is established, the data from the two realms isn’t combined. For more information see: Realm Split FAQ
Can I customize Reports & Dashboards? Not at this time. You can post your ideas and requests for new features on IdeaExchange.
Can I configure reports to be emailed to me? Not at this time. You can post your ideas and requests for new features on IdeaExchange.

What is Reports & Dashboards?

Commerce Cloud Reports & Dashboards provides enhanced analytics and reporting capabilities. Reports & Dashboards gives business users easy-to-read dashboards that offer insight into revenue, top selling products, profitability of promotions, and more.

Ecommerce teams can:

Track revenue for a selected period to see daily highs and lows.
Review the performance of Einstein Recommendations and identify optimization opportunities.
See top-selling products down to the SKU level and identify co-buying product trends to identify movers and shakers such as products that have a significant sales increase over a previous period.
Track promotion performance and profitability.
Review dashboards across digital channels and select custom date ranges to compare sites, customer or device types, and more.
See results for a single site or across all sites within a realm and for a specified period.
View technical metrics for requests and response times for controllers and OCAPI.
See real-time sales and performance for select data, updated to the minute.

What are the benefits of Reports & Dashboards?

The Reports & Dashboards app calculates reliable storefront performance data. Merchandisers, marketers, and ecommerce teams can use the data to make smarter, more informed business decisions across sales, promotions, and products. For example, business users can easily filter by customer type, site, locale, device type and much more. The Reports & Dashboards app provides the accuracy and granular insight that third-party analytics providers and previous Business Manager capabilities don’t.

How do I set up User Access?>

A user with Account Manager administrator credentials grants user access to the Reports & Dashboards portal. The administrator sets up user access by adding a Reports & Dashboards role in Account Manager. Set up User Access documentation. If you require site-specific access management for Reports & Dashboards, ask your Salesforce Success Manager for assistance.

How is data collected? Are there differences between how Business Manager Analytics and Reports & Dashboards collect data?

All Historical Reports reporting relies on your storefront templates, including calls to Analytics reporting URLs. These calls are recorded in logs, which populate the Analytics reports in Business Manager. The specific integration differs between SiteGenesis and the Salesforce Reference Application (SFRA).

Reports & Dashboards collects data for most reports automatically by an event such as order creation or adding to a cart on the B2C Commerce application. There are some exceptions.

Site Search Reports. To improve performance of on-site search, some search results are cached and don’t call back to the application. In order to ensure that all searches are captured, make sure that your developers confirm that your storefront templates meet these requirements:
1. <isobject view…> tags–isobject Element.
  1. <isobject view=”searchhit”> is used on search results pages to indicate each product returned within a search result.
  2. <isobject view=”none”> is used on the no search results page to indicate a no results search.
2. <isactivedatahead> is included in the head of your search results and no search results page templates-Add isactivedatahead Tags.
3. <isanalyticsoff/> isn’t included in your search results and no search results page templates. If this tag is present, search doesn’t track correctly–isanalyticsoff Element.
Traffic Reports. In order to categorize human visits vs bot visits, use these tags:<isactivedatahead> To track traffic, include this tag on all pages–Add isactivedatahead Tags.
1. <isanalyticsoff/> Ensure that this tag isn’t present on any pages that track analytics. If tracking must be turned off for certain pages, use this tag to prevent traffic tracking–isanalyticsoff Element.
Traffic, Shopper Journey dashboard. Because checkout steps can vary by site, setup the checkout steps reporting for your site. Tag each step in checkout templates to give Reports & Dashboards the correct step number and name for your checkout process. See the Checkout URL Pattern section of the Analytics Reporting URL Patterns documentation of implementation guidance.
Einstein reporting relies on Einstein activity tracking, see: Developer QA guidelines.

Can I view Reports & Dashboard data for my development and staging instances?

The Reports & and Dashboards are only available for your Production instance.

Are there filters on data collection such as automatic bot or spam traffic filters?

There are no filters at data collection. But you can identify and classify traffic reports by robot and nonrobot requests.

How does the platform identify a bot in the Top Robots report in Traffic?

Reports & Dashboards filters out data as a robot if one of these conditions is met.

Page count is zero and no order was placed
User agent class is blank and no order was placed
User agent class is crawler and no order was placed
User agent class is unrecognized and no order was placed

The first case of a zero page count indicates that no javascript code was run. A user who didn’t load javascript is likely a robot session. The list of crawler user agent classes comes from a third-party source.

My realm has multiple sites. When I first land on the dashboard do I see consolidated metrics for all my sites?

Yes. By default, you see consolidated metrics from all sites within the realm. You can filter by site and locale for a more granular view.

How is currency collected and displayed?

For every order the system processes, Reports & Dashboards uses an externally provided exchange rate to convert the local currency that’s used to place the order. Order totals are converted from local currency to the realm and site configured currencies. The realm currency is configured in Reports & Dashboards administration settings. The site currency is configured in Business Manager. The local currency also is converted to US dollars (USD).

When viewing reports, if you select sites that have different currencies, all values appear in the realm currency. But if you select sites with the same site currency, all values appear in the site currency.

Can I change the reporting currency for my analytics?

Yes, a Reports & Dashboards admin can change the report currency.

Note: After the currency is changed, the historical data doesn’t change. A currency change is at the platform level, not the user level. Salesforce recommends that you set the correct realm currency during site setup.

When exporting the individual reports, why is the data in USD when my site doesn’t use this currency?

Exported reports include monetary values in three currencies. Currencies are converted where necessary based on an exchange rate provided by an external service.

Realm currency (prefix std_) is configured in Reports & Dashboards.
Site currency (prefix ste_) is the default site currency configured in Business Manager. Data is populated only when all reported sites use the same site currency.
USD (prefix usd_)

When is an order counted in Reports & Dashboards?

An order is counted when it’s successfully placed and persisted to the B2C Commerce platform database. Generally, an order is counted when an order confirmation page indicates a successful order. If the order is changed such as when it’s canceled, the Reports & Dashboards app isn’t updated.

The Sales dashboard shows the device breakdown. When is a device Unknown?

Device information is derived from user agent info. Unknown is when device type can't be determined from the user agent info.

What constitutes the channels Storefront, Endless Aisle, Customer Service Center, Call Center, and Marketplace?

Channels typically are set in code during basket creation. See: Order Origination Attributes documentation

What do the referrers direct and internal mean in the Top Referrers Traffic report?

Traffic is classified as direct when there’s no referrer information. Traffic is classified as internal when the top-level domain in the referrer information is the same as the storefront.

My Company wants to generate a new REALM ID and move an existing site to the new realm (Realm Split). Which Reports & Dashboards analytic elements don’t transfer to the new realm?

Payment instruments associated with orders can’t be transferred. The instruments are encrypted data, which require the seeds.
Historical Reports data starts fresh in the new realm.
From the Reports & Dashboards dropdown, you can choose the old realm ID and find historical data. After the new realm is established, the data from the two realms isn’t combined.

For more information see: Realm Split FAQ

Can I customize Reports & Dashboards?

Not at this time. You can post your ideas and requests for new features on IdeaExchange.

Can I configure reports to be emailed to me?

Not at this time. You can post your ideas and requests for new features on IdeaExchange.