Could it really be?  WebTrends for SharePoint!

I’ve been following WebTrends since the mid 90s.  I know there are some good competitors out there these days.  But I’ve been trying to get them to pay attention to SharePoint for some time.  Just recently they posted an article/whitepaper on WebTrends for SharePoint that peaked my interest.  It’s apparently a solution brief on using WebTrends with SharePoint.

“The Webtrends for SharePoint tags directly interact with the SharePoint Portal template structure, enabling rich data collection and analysis. Webtrends Analytics adds the depth of measurement and comprehensive reporting needed to identify the areas that are working and those that require refinements. Webtrends for SharePoint tracks SharePoint pages via a JavaScript tag that executes upon page load. It accumulates the parts of the SharePoint page into a quantifiable activity. The following key reports are available.”

So aparently WebTrends adds a bot in the SharePoint template that tracks the information that it needs.

Here are some of the Unique SharePoint Reports:

• WebParts Viewed
• Breadcrumbs Report
• Document Actions
• Activity by User
• User Specific Document Action

They do call out some requirements.  I’m not sure why they say Intranet.  Seems this would also be useful for Internet sites:
• An existing or planned Webtrends Analytics implementation using Webtrends Professional Services.
• Minimum version of Microsoft Office SharePoint Services (MOSS) 2007. This offering is not available for MOSS version 2003 or prior.
• The recommended environment is an Intranet-based Microsoft Office SharePoint 2007 implementation using the standard Master templates and themes
• Webtrends SmartSource Data Collector (SDC) data collection method

 

Here’s the PDF again if you missed it.

Let me put out a disclaimer that I’m not associated with Webtrends or getting paid by them.  I’m just excited to see them doing something.  I still think the Nintex Reporting 2008 will give you much more detail around SharePoint as it is designed specially for it.  The reporting in Quest Site Administrator, the company I work for is a good start at collecting information and includes 30 reports, but requires some extra effort to gather and report on what you’re looking for.  I’d actually think that’s the case with nearly all of these products.  It’s going to take some effort to gather what you’re interested in.