Piwik: Open-Source Web Analytics Platform

While presenting at Oracle OpenWorld 2016, I demonstrated the integration of Google Analytics (GA) with PeopleSoft Applications for generating usage metrics. One of the big reasons that many find GA an attractive option aside from its superior features, is the fact that it is free. Of course, there are some limits to the term 'free'. After my presentation, I had an informative conversation with Greg Kelly from Oracle, who pointed out that just because a product is free, it does not necessarily mean it is the right solution for everyone. Greg also mentioned Piwik (hat tip), which is one of the most popular open-source web analytics platform and has an unique selling proposition of 100% data ownership.

In my personal opinion, Google Analytics is far more superior when it comes to functionality and features but I am aware that not everyone would be able to leverage Google Analytics due to various reasons (primarily data ownership). That said, Piwik is a great alternative for such customers to create a locally or cloud hosted web analytics platform which provides full control of their data. I am stating the obvious but Piwik does come with the cost of setting up and maintaining the infrastructure to host it somewhere.

Here are some resources that I found interesting and relevant to this topic (there may be many more out there):
https://zenincognito.com/piwik-vs-google-analytics-a-detailed-review/
https://piwik.pro/2016/05/infographic-piwik-vs-google-analytics/
http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/how-to-choose-a-web-analytics-tool-a-radical-alternative/

Here is my recent blog on how to integrate Google Analytics with PeopleSoft Applications:
https://pe0ples0ft.blogspot.com/2016/09/peopletools-using-ga-analytics-js.html

Here are the steps that I followed to setup and integrate Piwik with a PeopleSoft instance (HCM 9.2 PUM 17 - PeopleTools 8.55.06).

Step 1: Download and install Piwik

Resource: http://piwik.org/docs/installation/

In my cases, I downloaded Piwik from the Microsoft Windows Web App Gallery.
http://piwik.org/blog/2013/02/piwik-microsoft-windows-web-app-gallery/

Then, I followed the installation wizard to install Piwik on my Windows 7 desktop computer where my PUM image is also running.

Some gotchas for Windows installation based on my experience.

Windows Firewall Inbound Rules:

I had to punch a hole in the Windows Firewall and set up an inbound rule to allow requests on a port of choice.

Windows Firewall > Advanced Settings > Inbound Rules

IISExpress - Site Binding Configuration (applicationhost.cfg):

I also had to add site bindings to the IISExpress applicationhost.cfg to handle URL binding failures.
https://www.iis.net/learn/extensions/using-iis-express/handling-url-binding-failures-in-iis-express

Add trusted hosts to Piwik config.ini.php:

Finally, I had to add my localhost ip+port combination to the config.ini.php file as a trusted host.

WebMatrix > Piwik > config > environment > config.ini.php > trusted_hosts

Step 2: Login to the Piwik Admin Console and add a new site

Reference: http://piwik.org/docs/manage-websites/

Step 3: Obtain Piwik Tracking Code JavaScript snippet

Piwik > Administration > Websites > Manage Websites > View Tracking Code

You will find code similar to the following screenshot:

Next, I created a Branding Object in PeopleTools with the preceding javascript:

Navigation: PeopleTools > Portal > Branding > Branding Objects

Note: I only used the code snippet inside the script tag and also commented out the noscript portion for this proof of concept.

Step 4: Inject custom javascript in PeopleSoft

This part is similar to the Google Analytics javascript injection. To inject this custom javascript object across the PeopleSoft application, I used a custom framework for Global JS Injection. Details are in the following link:
Global JavasScript Injection Framework

Note: You don't have to use the same Global JS Injection Framework. You could use any other technique that might work best for your environment. The idea is to make sure the javascript is executed on every single page across the PeopleSoft application to send the usage metrics to the Piwik server.

Results:

Here is a screenshot of the Piwik Dashboard.