Ping is an analytics service that enables you to track remote web access across institutional web properties outside of Slate and correlate those accesses with records in Slate. Ping data is aggregated periodically every hour, and Ping access is matched to Slate records every night.

How Ping captures data

Ping provides a snippet of JavaScript code that is loaded when a user opens a web page where the code has been inserted.

If the user accesses a page using Ping for the first time and has not previously signed in to Slate on that computer, a persistent cookie is sent to the browser. This cookie contains a unique and random identifier that allows accesses from the same computer to be associated with one another. If the user has already accessed a page containing the Ping service or has accessed a resource within Slate, this cookie has already been set and does not need to be reset.

When the page loads, basic information about the page is collected (such as the URL and the date and time of access) and sent back to the server when the user leaves the page. Because this data is sent when the user leaves the page, the duration of the page access can be calculated and stored. Additional data points, including the IP address and the browser, are also stored. If the user is currently logged into Slate, this user ID is also stored.

Storage

Web accesses are stored in a [ping] table, and query filters and exports are available in the Slate Template Library which will facilitate access to this data within queries.

As present, there is no mandatory retention policy designated by Technolutions. This may be imposed at some point in the future for data storage or performance reasons. There will also be retention policy targets added to Slate specifically for Ping data.

How Ping associates web accesses with a specific Slate user

Ping captures and stores the IP address and unique cookie associated with each web access. Each web access is individually captured and stored, enabling detail in a very granular way while also providing the data to be accessed in aggregate.

In some cases, the user may already be logged in to Slate (such as an application status page), and this identity may also be captured and stored. When a user opens an email sent through Slate or clicks on a link sent by email through Slate, this IP address and unique cookie are also captured and stored.

When a user logs in to Slate, this IP address and unique cookie are also captured and stored. In the case of a Ping web access when a user is not logged in, the IP address and unique cookie alone (without any other data) would be insufficient in identifying a specific user in Slate.

However, when combined with the data from email opens, clicks, and portal logins, all of which are associated with a specific recipient or user in Slate (an "authenticated event"), accesses through Ping that might otherwise be unidentifiable can be identified to a specific user.

The authenticated event does not need to precede the web access recorded by Ping. For example, a user might access a financial aid web page as their first interaction with Ping or with Slate, and then, a month later, click a link in an email message.

While the initial web page access would not be identifiable at that point in time, when the authenticated event was recorded, that same initial web page access could be identified back to the specific user.

Ping and other analytics services

In many regards, Ping is similar to Google Analytics or any other analytics service.

Facebook Custom Audiences

Link a Facebook Ad account within the Deliver Configuration tool and create a query identifying a targeted audience through Facebook Custom Audiences to enable integrated ads and analytics between Slate and Facebook.

Ping and your website privacy policy

For organizations residing in the United States, privacy policies for such analytics are not generally required as a matter of law. For organizations residing in a European Union country, the EU "Cookie Law" may direct an organization to disclose their use of cookies. The directive's requirements for an organization using Ping would typically be no different than for an organization using Google Analytics.

In nearly every case, an organization's existing privacy policy, if any, should be sufficient to support the use of Ping, provided the policy does not explicitly indicate that cookies will never be used to identify a specific user. (Such a privacy policy would likely already be incompatible with Slate independent of any use of Ping, because Slate, like any secure online service, must use cookies to track a login session.)

The techniques used by Ping are used by Google Analytics and commercial organizations throughout the United States and world.

Website performance

Ping is loaded asynchronously and reports its data back to the server asynchronously using the sendBeacon method in supported browsers. Because these data operations occur asynchronously, there is no performance impact to your web site. This is true even in situations where the Ping service may be unavailable or unreachable.

Reporting

Exports

Ping Configurable Exports include:

• Total Duration (Seconds)

• Total Count

• Unique URL Count

• Last Timestamp

• First Timestamp

Filters

Ping Filters include:

• Ping by URL

• Ping Count by Timestamp

• Ping Count by URL, Timestamp

• Ping Duration by Timestamp

• Ping Duration by URL

Destinations and Sources

Ping Destinations and Sources allow users to drill down into website paths for which Ping is in use. This functionality allows for the aggregate of reporting of counts per pathway, as well as the Source, Medium, and Campaign for each path. A date range can be specified to limit the overall reporting.

Further Reading

Ping Analytics