When measuring the success of an intranet, looking at the total, all-time page views can be misleading. A page created three years ago might have 10,000 lifetime views, but no one has read it in the last six months.
To give Internal Communications and HR teams a true picture of current engagement, Powell Advanced Analytics relies on two dynamic metrics: Active Views and Active Users.
📈 What are Active Views?
Active Views represent the total number of times a page has been loaded within a rolling 30-day window.
What it measures: Intensity and traffic volume.
How to interpret it: If a page has a high number of Active Views, it means it is currently "hot." Employees are actively clicking on it right now, and potentially returning to it multiple times (for example, a cafeteria menu or a highly debated news article).
🧑🤝🧑 What are Active Users?
Active Users represent the number of unique individuals who have visited that page within the same rolling 30-day window.
What it measures: Reach and audience penetration.
How to interpret it: This tells you exactly how much of your workforce has seen the message. If your company has 500 employees and a new CEO announcement has 450 Active Users, you know your message successfully reached 90% of your audience.
🚀 Why These Metrics Matter (The Business Value)
By moving away from static, lifetime data and focusing on this 30-day "Pulse," communicators can make better strategic decisions:
Filter Out Historical Noise: Easily distinguish between a legacy document that used to be popular and a page that is genuinely trending today.
Measure True Reach: A page might have 500 Active Views but only 50 Active Users. This means a small group of people is checking the page obsessively. Relying on Active Users gives you the real human impact.
Manage the Content Lifecycle: If a critical HR policy drops to zero Active Views and zero Active Users, it is a clear signal that the content is either buried in the navigation, no longer relevant, or needs to be archived to keep your search results clean.
- Frequently Asked Questions
❓ FAQ
Q: Will Active content metrics replace my existing Microsoft standard views?
Not at all! Active content is based on entirely new, additional metrics. You can still access your standard all-time Microsoft views for your historical data and IT governance needs. Active content is simply added to your Powell Intranet header to give you a quick, strategic read on current momentum.
Q: How exactly are the Active views and Active users calculated?
There is no hidden algorithm. Active views represent the total number of views (including both your licensed internal employees and non-licensed external guests) who have accessed a specific piece of content within a rolling 30-day window in pages or a selected period in reports. Active users is the same metrics but based on unique users accessing the content.
Q: Why is my Active views number lower than my standard SharePoint views?
This is perfectly normal and expected! Standard SharePoint views act like a lifetime counter, showing total clicks since the day the page was created. Active views only count active views from the last 30 days on pages and a selected period in reports. If an article is six months old, its Active views will naturally be lower than its lifetime views, telling you it might be time to refresh or republish the content if you want to boost engagement.
Q: Do I need to activate or configure Active content manually?
Yes manual configuration is required. If your environment is equipped with the Powell Advanced Analytics module, the Active content metrics will not automatically appear in your content header following this release. if you want to display this metric to your users, you remain in full control and can easily enable it at any time within the feature settings.
Q: Why don't I see the Active content metrics in my header even though I have the Advanced Analytics module?
It is highly likely that your environment uses a customized header template rather than the standard Powell header. In this case, the new metric cannot be injected automatically. Please contact our support team, and they will gladly assist you in updating your custom environment to display the Active content metrics.
Q: My Active content shows 0, is it not working?
Don't worry, it is likely working perfectly! If you are an existing customer, a 0 simply means the content you are viewing has not received any traffic in the last 30 days (or since your recent Analytics deployment) in the page or the selected period in reports. If you are a new customer, the Active content metrics might just be starting to collect data. Your numbers will progressively populate and increase over time until they reflect the full rolling 30-day range in pages. The story is the same for reports. If you select a period outside your deployment period, the count will be zero.