Advanced Analytics - Measure your intranet

Powell Advanced Analytics Documentation

Overview

The Advanced Analytics feature (available with the Advanced SKU) provides a comprehensive overview of your intranet’s performance. It tracks and visualizes key KPIs across four main pillars:

• Usage & Traffic

• Content Performance

• User Engagement

• Search & Navigation

This feature supports administrators and communication teams in monitoring adoption, optimizing content strategies, and enhancing the user experience.

Data Plan & Maintenance

Before enabling Analytics, you must configure AppInsights consent, choosing between two data maintenance options:

1. Using Powell’s Default AppInsights Key

• Powell collects and stores telemetry data for up to 3 months.

• Ensures compliance with data privacy and minimization standards.

2. Using a Custom AppInsights Key

• Organizations can provide their own Azure Application Insights Key.

• Enables full control over data storage, retention, and filtering.

• Supports the use of custom filterable properties.

👉 [See detailed configuration instructions here]

How to Activate Advanced Analytics

You can enable Advanced Analytics in two ways:

Via SharePoint Site

1. Go to the Feature Dashboard in your SharePoint site.

2. Locate Advanced Analytics and enable it.
   

3. Ensure your tenant has the Advanced license activated.

4. Once enabled, the feature becomes available in Settings > Analytics > Advanced Analytics.

Via Powell Manager

1. In Site Collection Settings, go to Configuration.

2. Set Enable Analytics to On.

1. The feature will appear in Settings > Analytics > Advanced Analytics.
   
    

Data Storage and Processing

Powell Advanced Analytics is the built-in analytics solution designed to provide real-time insights into the usage and engagement of your intranet. It enables administrators and digital workplace managers to better understand how users interact with sites, pages, and Powell components.

The goal of Powell Advanced Analytics is to deliver a transparent, reliable, and immediate view of user activity across your Powell environment.

 

Powell Advanced Analytics leverages Azure Application Insights (AppInsights) for data storage and telemetry tracking.

• Raw and real-time data:
  All tracked events and metrics are stored in their raw form directly within AppInsights, allowing for fast, near real-time analysis.

• Data integrity:
  No data aggregation or transformation occurs before storage — ensuring that what you see in the dashboards truly reflects the underlying telemetry captured during user interactions.

• Security and compliance:
  Data is stored within your organization’s Azure environment, adhering to Microsoft’s enterprise-grade security and compliance standards.

Analytics logic and calculation

Powell Advanced Analytics applies its own measurement logic and criteria, specifically tailored to the Powell ecosystem and its components.

This means that certain indicators (for example, page views, component usage, or session activity) may differ slightly from what is observed in other analytics platforms such as Microsoft Analytics, Google Analytics, or other third-party tools.

These differences are expected and technically understandable, as they are related to how each platform defines and captures interactions.
For instance:

• Microsoft Analytics may record a page view at the moment a page instance is created or requested.

• Powell Advanced Analytics, however, records a page view when the page’s Powell components are fully loaded and rendered for the end user.

Such variations are natural given the different technical layers and integration points used by each solution within your intranet.

Key Takeaways

• Powell Advanced Analytics data is stored raw and in real time in AppInsights.

• It is an independent analytics tool with its own metrics and calculation rules.

• Minor differences compared to other analytics solutions are normal, as they result from technical variations in how user interactions are captured and processed.

• The tool focuses on providing the most accurate view possible of Powell-specific usage, helping you make informed decisions about intranet performance and user engagement.

Example Use Cases

• Monitor the most visited intranet pages and components.

• Identify underused web parts or areas needing redesign.

• Track the adoption of new intranet features or campaigns.

• Cross-analyze Powell data with AppInsights queries for advanced reporting.

Key Features & Capabilities

Advanced Analytics is divided into several functional areas, each focusing on a key aspect of intranet performance.
Before exploring these sections in detail, here's a quick overview of the available filters :

• User Properties (e.g., department, role)

• Item Metadata (e.g., page category, content type)

• Environment Picker (choose any site in the tenant)

• Language filter (for multilingual intranets using variations)

• Date range selector (filter metrics by custom or predefined time periods)

• Time Unit (display data segmented by day, week, month, or year)

Purpose:

• Filter analytics by user or item attributes

• Aggregate data across specific sites or environments

• Example: Filter data to show only metrics for HR department users

1. Traffic

The Traffic section is split into two dedicated tabs, Sessions and Pages, to provide clearer insights into how users navigate your intranet and interact with its content.

Metrics Tracked:

• Sessions tab:

  • Average session duration

  • Bounce rate (sessions with a single interaction)

  • Sessions
  • Total sessions and total users

  • Average number of sessions by hour of day

  • Device type breakdown (sessions by OS)

• Pages tab:
  • Total page views
  • Unique page views
  • Average page views per session
  • All page views and unique pages viewed
  • Top 5 most viewed pages 
  • Average page views by hour of day

Purpose:

• Analyze user behavior across the intranet

• Identify most and least visited areas

2. Contents

Metrics Tracked:

• Views, likes, comments, shares, and favorites per content item
• User interactions on pages, articles, and documents
• Activity timeline showing when content is added or updated

Purpose:

• Measure the impact and reach of published content
• Identify the most engaging formats (documents, pages, news, etc.)
• Understand creation and update trends to support editorial planning
• Refine content strategy based on real user interactions

3. Engagement

Metrics Tracked:

• User actions (e.g., reading, discussion participation, task completion)

• Gamification data (points, badges, leaderboards)

Purpose:

• Drive and reward active participation

• Recognize top contributors

4. Search & Navigation

Metrics Tracked:

• Most searched terms

• Search success rate

Purpose:

• Improve search usability

• Uncover knowledge/content gaps

Export Options

Formats Supported:

• PDF: For presentation-ready summaries

• Excel: For deeper, customizable analysis 🔜

Purpose:

• Share insights with stakeholders in an accessible format

• Perform extended reporting with raw data exports