Below are very thorough instructions on how to use the files included in the course download. I never, ever read readme files, but this one will save you a ton of time in the long run. 


WORKBOOK

annielytics-dashboard-course-workbook.pdf

This is the workbook students will use throughout the course. It is copyrighted and distribution of this workbook is prohibited.

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EXCEL PRACTICE FILE

seminar-dashboard-practice.xlsx

Students will use this file on Day 2 to learn visualization techniques in Excel. 

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EXCELLENT ANALYTICS DASHBOARD

excellent-analytics-dashboard.xlsm

This is the dashboard that the students can use with the free dashboard tool, Excellent Analytics. The course will cover the tool and the dashboard in Day 3. 

Download Excellent Analytics: http://www.outfox.com/excellentanalytics/

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ANALYTICS CANVAS DASHBOARD TEMPLATE

dashboard-course-demo.ACCT

Dashboard Password: sexydata

Analytics Canvas is the paid dashboard tool that will be covered in Day 3. Pricing starts at $49/month, at the time of publishing, for a single user license. Students download the tool for a free 30-day trial. This is Annie Cushing's favorite dashboard tool. 

Analytics Canvas Pricing: http://bit.ly/pricing-analytics-canvas

Download Analytics Canvas: http://bit.ly/download-analytics-canvas

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ANALYTICS CANVAS SAMPLE DASHBOARD

analytics-canvas-sample-dashboard.xlsx

This is a sample file of what the final dashboard covered in the course will look like. This dashboard was created before the switch from Visitors to Users and Visits to Sessions, but you can still get a good idea of what the course is about.

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ANALYTICS CANVAS DASHBOARD

analytics-canvas-dashboard.xlsx

This is the free Excel file dashboard template that students will use on Day 3 of the course.

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STEPS TO SET UP THE ANALYTICS CANVAS DASHBOARD TEMPLATE

To modify the Analytics Canvas dashboard for your use, you'll need to take the following steps:

1. Download Analytics Canvas: http://bit.ly/download-analytics-canvas
 
2. Open Analytics Canvas and the dashboard-course-demo.ACCT file. The file password is “sexydata”; enter it when the first dialog box pops up.

3. When the second dialog box pops up, connect Analytics Canvas to the Google Analytics account and view you want the dashboard to pull data from.

4. An .ACC file will be created and placed in the directory that the original .ACCT file was in. The .ACC file is what you will be working with and customizing in Analytics Canvas. Once it's created you no longer need the .ACCT file and can delete it, so you don't get confused. 

5. You may want to rename and/or move your files to another directory. (I recommend doing this.) I highly recommend you keep the.ACC file, Excel template, and a reports folder in the same directory. However, if the Excel template and/or reports folder are moved or renamed, their file paths will need to be updated in Analytics Canvas. You can see a screenshot of an example setup here: http://bit.ly/ac-template-setup. Notice all of the monthly reports will collect in this folder in ascending order by month.

6. If you move an/or change the file names, you'll need to tell Analytics Canvas where to find the updated files. To do this, take the following steps:
- Click on the Outputs tab (screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-outputs).
- Right-click on the .xlsx file at the top of the stack and choose Edit Workbook Definition from the contextual menu.
- Select your updated Excel template file using the Select File button. 
- Select what folder you want to dump your reports into using the Destination Folder button. (I typically call this folder Reports.)
- Select the name for your report workbooks in the Generated Workbook Name field.
- Add a custom date stamp. For monthly reports, I use -yyy-MM. The initial hyphen just connects the date stamp to the workbook name, but you could alternatively add this to the end of the workbook name. If you run a weekly or daily report, you'll want to add day to the format by appending it with -dd. You'll see a preview below the field you're typing into.
- Click OK.
- Screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-template-setup

7. To update your Excel template you'll need to add all of the data into it to see what everything will look like when you run reports. To do this, right-click on your output file like you did in the second step under 6., but this time choose Write All Data Into Template (screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-write). 

8. Right-click on your output file again and choose Open Template Workbook in Excel to open your Excel template.

9. You'll need to customize your dashboard in Analytics Canvas to match your goals, metrics (if you're not tracking revenue and transactions), etc. If you see issues with your charts, such as broken axes (like the one you see here: http://bit.ly/ac-axis), you'll need to right-click on the chart in Excel, choose Select Data, and click-and-drag over your data set to choose all of your data.

10. When you're finished setting up your template file in Excel, save your final changes, and then remove all the data from the template by right-clicking on the output file in Analytics Canvas as you have before (screenshot:http://bit.ly/ac-remove-data), but this time choose Remove All Data from Template. This is the scariest step the first time you do it. (Like super scary!) But if you forget to remove all of the data from it before running reports, the data left behind could become permanent fixtures in your monthly report. For example, let's say you create your template in August and you have eight different mediums, but then in September you stop running display ads and email. Those two extra rows of data will show up in your new report, and it won't be apparent at all. (I may or may not have made this mistake ... O.o) So just take a deep breath, close your template, and remove all the data from it.

11. To get the chart made from the Google Spreadsheet data (Sessions from Social Media in the dashboard template), you'll need to connect Analytics Canvas to a Google Spreadsheet that you have access to. You need to actually have administrative access to the Google Spreadsheet for this to work; you can't just set it so anyone with the link can access it. You'll find directions for how to connect a Google Spreadsheet to Analytics Canvas in the next section.

12. To run a report, click the green play button above the Data Sources tab (http://bit.ly/ac-play). Then look for the new report in the folder you assigned to be your reports folder when you edited your workbook definition in Step 6.

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STEPS TO CONNECTING A GOOGLE SPREADSHEET

1. Delete the current data block under the Google Spreadsheet Example tab (screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-delete-block).

2. Go to the Data Source tab under the green arrows and choose Google Spreadsheet (screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-gdoc).

3. Choose a Google Spreadsheet that you want to integrate with Analytics Canvas and select all of the columns with data (screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-gdoc-columns).

4. Drag the green block that appears next to the other boxes. 

5. Click the right circle on the block and drag it to the next block's left circle (screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-connect-blocks). 

6. Add the new block to the group once it's attached to the others (screenshot: http://bit.ly/ac-connect-blocks). 

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Check out the Analytics Canvas Getting Started video tutorial for more information on how to set up Analytics Canvas: http://bit.ly/ac-setup

Jump to the first Annielytics Dashboard Course video on how to use Analytics Canvas: http://bit.ly/ac-videos



















