WebSphere and Webtrends: The Partnership and The Solution

September 21, 2009 Michael Cook — 1 comment

One of the fantastic parts of my job at Webtrends is having the opportunity to work with our partners via the Webtrends Open Exchange . We want to combine the strength of our platform with the strength of our partner’s to provide real solutions.

Many of you saw our press release about integrating with WebSphere Portal earlier this year. Webtrends services a significant portion of the WebSphere Portal install base and have for many years. I would credit the flexibility of both solutions for making that so. Ever since the initial release in 2001, WebSphere Portal has become one of the main enterprise web portal software platforms of choice. The Java platform is easy to deploy and maintain for all types of organizations. My team has worked with WebSphere Portal customers to implement JavaScript based data collection and log file based methods.

When we first began the integration project, we did a review of challenges that portal users might face when trying to implement analytics reporting. The items that bubbled to the top were:

Uncertainty regarding best practices for deploying code.
Inability to deploy code quickly, with low development costs
Difficultly creating business ready, actionable reporting, without long design cycles
Ability to analyze the log files that WSP produces

In short, people need a repeatable solution that is easy to implement, creating immediate business value. Based on this feedback, we worked with IBM to create a better way to implement both solutions together using the SmartSource Data Collector JavaScript methodology and another for just reporting on log files.

Let’s talk about the JavaScript version first:

So exactly how much development is required? Very little. The solution requires JSP and JavaScript code that is plug and play. The code required is contained in the solution. All your developer needs to do is apply it to your WebSphere Portal themes.
How rich is the data? Using this methodology we can collect data on pages, portlets, site navigation (using the site breadcrumbs), users by name, document tracking and all of the standard reports you expect out of Webtrends Analytics. This also includes creating user readable versions of URLs for customer not using site mappings to simply the URL strings. An example of this might be changing a URL like: http://www.ibm.com/wps/portal/!ut/p/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy to http://www.ibm.com/My Website/The Main Area/News and Views/, which is much easier to read and analyze.

Now, the Site Analyzer log file solution (Webtrends Software customer only):

So exactly how much development is required? None. You simply need to analyze the Site Analyzer log files WebSphere Portal creates.
How rich is the data? The log files offer different but powerful data. You can report on authenticated users, pages, portlets, administrative commands, page customizer and user management.

When can I get this and how much does it cost? The solution is available now. You can take the white paper and start your implementation right away. Best of all, this solution is completely free to use. However, if you’d like assistance or need custom work Webtrends Solution Services can help you to find the right fit for you.

Download the Implementation Whitepaper

All of these reports, they are available using the classic Webtrends interface, the sleek new Analytics 9 interface or can be pulled directly using our REST API. The API supports JSON, XML, Excel, etc. This data can be pulled directly into a WebSphere Portlet in a matter of minutes.

Webtrends will be at the IBM Portal Excellence Conference 2009 October 12-15 2009 held this year in San Diego, California. I’m happy to say I’ll be discussing this solution in more depth October 13^th. The Webtrends team will be at Booth #18 during the event providing demos, discussing the WebSphere Portal platform and our partnership with IBM. Come by and say hi. I’d love to meet every one of you.

Keep in mind this white paper is just one step in this integration. Webtrends continues to work with the WebSphere Portal team to optimize ease of deployment and reporting. If you’re excited about the project now, just wait.

See you in San Diego!

CATEGORIES: Emerging Technologies Events Open Exchange Partners