Implement multi-suite tagging in Adobe Launch with the Analytics extension

Step 1 of 9: 1Choose the approach and write down the suite IDs

Decide that multi-suite tagging is the right tool, using the table above. Then write down, for each environment, the two report suite IDs, the tracking server and the Organization ID. You will enter them in several places, and they must match everywhere.

The tracking server is the same in all three environments: it is the hostname of your data collection, not of one report suite. IDs separated by a comma with no spaces are the form Adobe documents for multiple report suites.

Step 2 of 9: 2Create the Global and site report suites, with the same variables

You need access to Adobe Analytics through the Admin Console, which a system-level administrator grants. For each environment, starting with development:

1. In Adobe Analytics open Admin, then Report Suites, and select Add Report Suite.
2. Choose a predefined template, or an existing report suite as the template. Only settings are copied, not data.
3. Complete the report suite fields and select Create Report Suite.

A report suite ID can be at most 40 bytes and the friendly name at most 255 bytes. Create the Global suite first and enable the variables from the table above in its settings, with allocation and expiration. Then create the site suite with the Global suite as its template: it arrives with the same settings, so the numbers mean the same in both. Compare the two suites once, then repeat for staging and production.

Step 3 of 9: 3Find your company's tracking server

The tracking server is already in your hits if the site already sends Analytics data. Open the page, and use either route:

1. Experience Platform Debugger. Open the Adobe Experience Platform Debugger on the page and select Analytics in the left navigation. The tracking server is in the Hostname section.
2. Browser developer tools. Open the Network panel, reload the page and filter for /ss. The Analytics requests appear, and the tracking server is the hostname of the request. The report suite IDs sit in the path right after /b/ss/.

What the hostname tells you:

• It matches the site's domain, for example data.example.com: a first-party tracking server, set up with a CNAME. Use it as it is.
• It is example.data.adobedc.net or examplecompany.sc.omtrdc.net: a third-party tracking server. Use it as it is; a first-party CNAME is optional.
• It is exstoreprod.data.adobedc.net or exstoreprod.2o7.net, built from the report suite ID: the auto-derived default. You cannot use it for two suites, and it is not your company's tracking server. Go to step 4.

If the site sends no data yet, Adobe's tutorial says to choose a subdomain of .sc.omtrdc.net for a third-party tracking server, and lists the report suite IDs under Admin, then Report Suites. For a new setup, confirm the value with Adobe before you rely on it.

The Admin Console shows your Organization ID, not the tracking server. Open adminconsole.adobe.com and the ID is in the URL, in the form …/C538193582390300A495CC9@AdobeOrg/overview.

Step 4 of 9: 4If you do not know it, contact Adobe Customer Care

Contact Adobe Customer Care when any of these is true:

• Every existing hit uses the auto-derived default, so your company has no tracking server to copy.
• There is no first-party CNAME and you want one.
• You want a CNAME set up or changed.
• You do not have your Organization ID. Adobe's Experience Cloud ID Service page says to contact Customer Care if you do not have it.

You can open the ticket from inside Adobe Analytics: Adobe has a tutorial on submitting a support ticket to Customer Care from directly in the product. Put the facts a person needs in the first message:

Subject: Tracking server for multi-suite tagging in Tags (Adobe Launch)

Organization ID: 0123456789ABCDEF01234567@AdobeOrg
We are moving store.example.com to multi-suite tagging in the Adobe Analytics
extension and need the tracking server to enter in SSL Tracking Server.

Report suites:
  Production: exgrpglobalprod (Global), exstoreprod (site)
  Staging:    exgrpglobalstg,  exstorestg
  Development: exgrpglobaldev, exstoredev

Current /b/ss/ host on store.example.com: exstoreprod.data.adobedc.net
First-party CNAME in place: no

Please tell us: (1) our company's tracking server for third-party collection,
(2) whether a first-party CNAME can be set up for data.example.com through the
Adobe-managed certificate program, and (3) the data center (RDC) type if it
matters for data residency.

For a first-party CNAME, Adobe's managed certificate program gives the steps to expect: you complete the First-party domain request form and open the ticket; Adobe provides a CNAME record to add to your DNS; after the record is in place, Adobe works with DigiCert to buy and install the certificate. You then test the hostname: open your-hostname/_check in a browser and expect SUCCESS. Adobe renews the certificate automatically 30 days before it expires if the CNAME still points to Adobe, so do not remove it or point it to a CDN. If you have data residency or compliance requirements, include the RDC type in the request.

Ask early: the answer sets the value you enter in step 6, and a CNAME also needs your DNS team. Expect an answer that gives you the hostname to use and, for a CNAME, the record to add. Confirm the hostname in a test request before you publish.

Step 5 of 9: 5Install the Experience Cloud ID Service extension

The Adobe Analytics extension identifies visitors with the Experience Cloud ID (ECID), and it needs a separate extension for that. Adobe's page says the Analytics extension requires a separate tag extension to collect ECID.

1. In the Tags property, open Extensions, then Catalog.
2. Find the Experience Cloud ID Service extension, hover over it and select Install.
3. Open its configuration and check the Experience Cloud Organization ID: a 24-character alphanumeric string that ends with @AdobeOrg. The field is normally filled in for you; if it is empty and you do not know the ID, Adobe's page says to contact Customer Care.
4. Select Save.

Without this extension, the Analytics extension falls back to its older s_vi cookie, set at the tracking server domain. Adobe advises against it. A third-party tracking server then sets a third-party cookie, which most browsers reject. Adobe's page also says that once SSL Tracking Server is set correctly, no further visitor identification measures are required.

The adobe-mcid message. You may see a build or console message that the ECID code, named adobe-mcid, is not bundled. Adobe's pages do not list that message; what they document is the dependency: the Analytics extension needs the Experience Cloud ID Service extension in the same property. If you see the message, check that the extension is installed in the property, that it is part of the library you built, and that you rebuilt after installing it. If it persists, send the exact message and the library name to Customer Care.

Step 6 of 9: 6Install and configure the Adobe Analytics extension

1. In the Tags property, open Extensions, then Catalog, find Adobe Analytics and install it.
2. Under Library management, choose Manage the library for me.
3. In the report suite fields for Development, Staging and Production, specify the two report suites of each environment. Enter the Global ID first and the site ID second, separated by a comma with no spaces: for Development exgrpglobaldev,exstoredev.

1. Under General, enter the tracking server. Put data.example.com in SSL Tracking Server, and in Tracking Server too if the form asks for it. Enter the domain only.
2. Set Currency Code to the currency the site sends, because it sets the conversion rate for revenue and currency events. Leave Character Set at UTF-8 unless your site uses another encoding; Adobe recommends matching the site.
3. Leave Link Tracking and Global Variables as you need them. Each link tracking option you switch on adds link hits to both suites.
4. Save the extension.

A rule in this extension cannot change the report suite later. These fields are the only place the two suites are set, so an ordinary rule cannot send a hit to one suite only.

Step 7 of 9: 7Create the rule that sends the page view

Create two data elements of type Custom Code. They give the rule the page name and the site value:

// Page Name
return "example-store:" + location.pathname;

// Site ID
return "example-store";

Create a rule named Adobe – Page view with the Core event Library Loaded (Page Top). Add two actions from the Adobe Analytics extension. Set Variables fills the variables, and Send Beacon sends them: the extension does not send a beacon from Set Variables.

Nothing else is needed for two suites. The beacon already carries both IDs from the extension settings.

Step 8 of 9: 8Build and publish the library to each environment

A library holds the extensions, data elements and rules; a build is the library compiled for an environment. New libraries start in the Development state, where all changes are made.

1. Open Publishing, create a library or edit the existing one, and add the extension, the data elements and the rule.
2. Select Build to Development. The library must be assigned to the development environment, or the build fails.
3. When development works, select Submit for Approval, then Submit & Build to Staging, and test on staging.
4. Approve and publish to production. The library goes live in production when you choose to build and publish it.

Each environment has its own embed code, the client-side code in the site's pages. Check that the staging and production pages carry their own embed codes, because each environment's build holds that environment's report suites.

Step 9 of 9: 9Validate with the Debugger and the network call

Test development first, on a page that loads the development library.

1. Open the Experience Platform Debugger and connect it to the page. In Configuration, in the Page Embed Codes section, open the Actions dropdown and select Replace. Pick the property and the Development environment, so the page loads your development library (Adobe's Web SDK tutorial shows this flow; the labels can change).
2. Select Analytics in the left navigation. Check the Hostname section: it must be data.example.com, not an address built from a report suite ID. Look for the report suite IDs the hit goes to (the Debugger shows them as reportSuiteIds) and confirm both are there.
3. Open the Network panel, reload and filter for /ss. The request host is your tracking server. In the path after /b/ss/, both suite IDs appear, Global first, separated by a comma: /b/ss/exgrpglobaldev,exstoredev/.

1. After processing, open the page views report in both suites and break it down by eVar1: both show example-store.

Adobe's processing is not instant, so allow time before you compare the two suites.