PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal 9.1 PeopleBook: Using Portal Features

Managing Content Ratings and iTracker

This chapter provides an overview of Content Ratings and discusses how to:

Manage content ratings.
View content ratings results.
Deploy iTracker.
View iTracker usage results.

Understanding Content Ratings

Reaction to portal content can be monitored through the following actions:

Giving users an opportunity to express their opinions.
Tracking which pages users access.

PeopleSoft Enterprise Portal includes a content ratings feature to manage user feedback and an iTracker to track usage. To use these features, the monitored content must use the Context Manager and the Dynamic Content template (PTCXM_DYNAMIC_CON_TEMPLATE). The Dynamic Content template should be configured to include the Content Ratings pagelet (PAPP_SURVEY_LINKS_SCR). You then need to associate the menu item to the poll using the Manage Content Ratings component.

Note. If you specify an Context Manager configuration for specific menu items, and you want to deploy a content rating poll to these menu items, you should also assign the Content Ratings pagelet to those menu items in the Context Manager.

Rating Portal Content

The content ratings feature enables you to:

Configure single-question polls.
Assign questions to a menu item or a portal-hosted unregistered URL.
Monitor user feedback.

When users access a page that is being polled, the Content Ratings pagelet containing a link to the poll is displayed in the Context Manager frame. When the user clicks the poll link, the content ratings question appears in a new browser window. A user can answer each content ratings question only once for any given menu item or URL. However, if the poll is deployed to many different content items, the user can answer it again for each different menu item.

Content ratings administrators can associate multiple content ratings polls with any portal-hosted content, and the poll’s question can be effective-dated to change over time.

The content ratings feature can also be used as a broader poll taker. For example, you can ask a range of questions of your users that are not necessarily tied to the content that they are viewing. In those circumstances, we recommend that you deploy a poll to one heavily trafficked menu item or portal-hosted URL. That way, results that you see on the Poll page and Results pages will be grouped properly for non-content related questions, as opposed to being spread out over multiple content items.

Results are accessible to poll respondents on the Content Ratings page when navigating from the Content Ratings pagelet. They are also accessible on the more advanced results pages available to content ratings managers and administrators. Results pages display data by menu item or URL.

Oracle delivers a preconfigured content ratings poll named CONTENTRATINGS. This poll asks the user to rate the effectiveness of a page on a scale of one to five, with one being the low rating. The results for the CONTENTRATINGS poll are accessible by the portal search feature, which means that search takes these results into account when it returns and ranks search results. While you can configure additional content ratings or general polls, they are not automatically considered in the Portal Search results.

Important! You can customize the text of the CONTENTRATINGS poll’s title or question, but you should not change the poll ID or the answer configuration.

Tracking Usage

The Invisible Usage Tracker (iTracker) is an invisible tracking system that monitors the pages a user accesses. An iScript stores the user ID, URL, and date and time information each time that a tracked page is accessed. This information can also be recorded when the tracked target page is refreshed or redrawn by the portal.

For registered portal content, the iTracker stores the PORTALCONTENTURL parameters, which is the portal URL less any parameter values. For unregistered URL tracking, the iTracker uses the PORTALACTUALURL parameter value, which is the portal URL plus any parameter values. However, if the PORTALACTUALURL parameter value exceeds 254 characters in length, the system will use the PORTALCONTENTURL parameter.

Data is stored in the EO_PE_SR_ITRACK table. Examples of how you can access this information are available through the View Content Ratings Results and View Usage Tracker Results pages.

You assign menu items or unregistered URLs to the iTracker in the same way that you specify which content you want to associate with the content ratings polls.

Managing Content Ratings

This section provides an overview of content rating management and discusses how to:

Define a content ratings poll.
Add a poll question.
Assign polls to menu items.
Assign content ratings result viewers.
Associating polls to unregistered URLs.

Understanding Content Rating Management

Access to the delivered content ratings configuration pages is granted by role. Content ratings managers can access the Content Ratings page and Menu Items page. The Result Viewers page and Advanced page can only be accessed by content ratings administrators as usage of these pages require a more technical understanding of the portal.

Pages Used to Manage Portal Content Ratings

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Content Ratings	EO_PE_SR_SRV_SELCT	Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings	Define high-level information, such as the poll ID and description. Add, edit, and delete poll questions.
Question Details	EO_PE_SR_SRV_CONFG	Click the Add a Question button on the Content Ratings page. Click the Edit button on the Content Ratings page.	Enter a poll question and possible responses.
Menu Items	EO_PE_SR_CONTENT	Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings, Menu Items	Assign a menu item to the poll ID.
Results Viewers	EO_PE_SR_SRV_USERS	Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings, Results Viewers	Grant user access to results for the poll ID. Access is granted on the View Results page.
Advanced	EO_PE_SR_ADVANCED	Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings, Advanced	Assign an unregistered URL to the poll ID. This page is intended for advanced users with an understanding of portal-hosted URL formats.

Defining a Content Ratings Poll

Access the Content Ratings page (Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings).

Poll ID

Displays the identifier for the poll.

Poll Type

Displays the default value of Content Rating.

Active

Select the check box to make the poll active on the Content Ratings pagelet. The poll will not be available on the Content Ratings pagelet unless this box is selected.

Show Results to Respondents

Select to enable respondents to view the poll results when they have completed the poll and each subsequent time they access the poll’s menu item or URL.

Description

Enter a description of the poll.

Question Details

Publish Date	Displays the publish date entered on the Question Details page.
Expire Date	The value that appears is based on the publication date of subsequent questions. The current question is retired when the next question is published.
Question Title	Displays the value entered on the Question Details page. This value will appear as a link on the Content Ratings pagelet.
Preview	Click to display the poll in a new browser window. A preview is available once information on the Question Details page has been completed and saved for the associated question.
Edit	Click to access the Question Details page, where you can edit the associated question.
Delete	Click to delete the associated question. You will be prompted to confirm your deletion.
Add a Question	Click to access the Question Details page, where you can enter a poll question.
Delete this Poll	Click to delete the poll. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion.

Adding a Poll Question

Access the Question Details page (click the Add a Question button on the Content Ratings page).

Assigning Polls to Menu Items

Access the Menu Items page (Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings, Menu Items).

Important! This assignment is site-specific and defaults to the site that you are logged onto. If the same menu item is in multiple sites, you will need to make the assignment for each instance.

Assign To

Select the from the following values:

Select Menu Items. Select to be able to specify the menu items with which you want to associate the poll. The Menu Items scroll area displays.

All Menu Items. Select to associate all menu items to the poll.

Note. You must associate the menu item with the dynamic content template and the Content Ratings pagelet for the poll to appear on the Content Ratings pagelet for the menu item.

Menu Items

The Menu Items group box displays when the Assign To field value is set to Select Menu Items..

Menu Item	Select the menu item you want to associate with the survey poll.
Menu Item Label	The link text that will appear for the menu item in the portal menu.
Menu Folder Label	The text that identifies the menu folder.
Active	Select to activate the poll for the selected menu item. If clear, the link to the poll will not display on the Content Ratings pagelet.
Add Menu Item	Click to add a new menu item to the page.

Assigning Content Ratings Result Viewers

Access the Result Viewers page (Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings, Result Viewers).

Note. If the selected poll appears for multiple menu items (CREFs), security access is granted to users to view the results for all instances. You are not granting CREF-specific access.

User ID

Select the user you want to be able to view results for the selected poll.

Note. Selected user IDs must have security access to the View Content Ratings Results page and Usage Results by Menu Item pages in the portal registry.

Add a User

Click to add another user to the list of result viewers.

See Managing Content Ratings, Viewing Content Ratings Results, Viewing iTracker Usage Results, Assigning Topic Experts.

Associating Polls to Unregistered URLs

Access the Advanced page (Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Maintain Content Ratings, Advanced).

You can associate a poll with an unregistered portal-proxied URL. For example, you can register a pagelet or page that contains links to articles or documents, such as External News, that you do not want to register separately. Use this page to associate a content ratings poll with the news articles or documents that are linked to from the registered page.

Note. Polls can only be associated with the first link off of a registered page. Any links that are accessed off of the unregistered pages cannot be associated with polls.

URL ID	Enter the name that you want to use to identify the URL. This name should be unique for each URL ID entry.
URL	Enter the URL to which you want to deploy the poll. Oracle recommends that you navigate to the URL in the browser and copy the URL in the address bar into this field. The system converts this entry to uppercase text and resolves any HTML codes to the actual characters they represent. Note. The URL cannot be longer than 254 characters.
Active	Select to display the poll ID for the URL. If this option is clear, the user will not see the poll ID link when accessing the URL.
Add a URL	Click to enter an additional URL.

Additional Conditions for Non-Menu Item URLs

For the poll to appear for a URL, the following conditions must be met:

The portal must proxy the URL entered. As such, you must access the URL from a page or pagelet that is registered in the portal. For example, the URL could be to a news article referenced off of a portal home page.

Note. The registered referring page on which the link to the unregistered URL appears should use an HTML template. If the referring page is a homepage pagelet, there are no special configuration considerations to take into account. If you are using a portal CREF as the referring page, make sure that the CREF has a template specified, and that it is an HTML template. If the survey does not appear on the URL when you access it, double-check to make sure that the referring CREF is not using the Context Manager template itself.

See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.50 PeopleBook: PeopleTools Portal Technology,“Working with Portal Servlets,” Understanding Proxying
The URLs to which you want to associate a poll must also use the dynamic content template to render the poll in the Context Manager frame. Since this is not a registered URL, you will need to specify that the dynamic content template is designated as the portal's default template. Making this setting change will have special implications for your portal installation.

See Enterprise PeopleTools 8.50 PeopleBook: PeopleTools Portal Technology, "Designing Portal Templates"

Viewing Content Ratings Results

This section discusses how to view content ratings results.

Page Used to View Content Ratings Results

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Content Ratings Results	EO_PE_SR_SURVEY_VW	Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, Content Ratings Results	Access results of the active content ratings polls to which you have been granted access. Only users and roles that have been selected on the Result Viewers page for the poll ID can access information on this page. Click the View Results link to access the Results by Menu Item page, where you can access poll results broken down by menu item. The View Results link does not display if there are no results to view.
Results by Menu Item	EO_PE_SR_CRF_INQ	Click the View Results link on the View Content Ratings Results page.	View results of the selected poll for both active and inactive menu items broken down by menu item. Click the View Responses link to access the View Responses page, where you can view current responses for the selected menu item. The View Responses link does not display if there are no responses to view for the menu item.
View Responses	EO_PE_SR_VWRSLTS	Click the View Results link on the Results by Menu Item page.	View current responses for the selected menu item. Click the View Comments link to access the View Comments page, where you can view any comments entered for the selected response. If no comments are available, the View Comments link does not display.
View Comments	EO_PE_SR_VWCMTS	Click the View Comments link on the View Responses page.	View all comments entered for the selected response.

Deploying iTracker

This section discusses how to deploy iTracker.

Deploying the iTracker

iTracker is the only invisible usage tracker poll allowed by the portal. You cannot manipulate poll details, however you can define where the feature is deployed.

To assign the iTracker to portal content:

Access the Content Ratings page by selecting the ITRACKER poll ID value. The Question Summary group box that displays on the page for content ratings poll IDs does not display because iTracker does not require the entry of any questions.

See Defining a Content Ratings Poll.
Access the Menu Items page and assign iTracker to any menu items registered on the portal.

Note. The Usage Results by Menu Item page can only display iTracker data for individual menu items selected by choosing the Select Menu Items value in the Assign Content Ratings field. The page does not display any data if you select the All Menu Items value

See Assigning Polls to Menu Items.
Access the Advanced page and assign the iTracker to any unregistered portal-hosted URLs.

See Associating Polls to Unregistered URLs.

Note. The Result Viewers page that displays for content ratings poll IDs does not display for iTracker. To control access to iTracker results, limit access to the View Usage Tracker Results page to only appropriate user IDs and roles using PeopleTools security.

Page Used to View iTracker Usage Results

Page Name	Definition Name	Navigation	Usage
Usage Results by Menu Item	EO_PE_SR_USG_INQ	Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, View Usage Tracker Results	View a list of the menu items assigned to the iTracker. View the total number of visits and visitors to each menu item. Note. This page does not display any data if you selected the All Menu Items value in the Assign Content Ratings field on the Menu Items page for the ITRACKER poll ID. This page can only display data for individual menu items selected by choosing the Select Menu Items value.

Page Name

Definition Name

Navigation

Usage

Usage Results by Menu Item

EO_PE_SR_USG_INQ

Portal Administration, Context, Content Ratings, View Usage Tracker Results

View a list of the menu items assigned to the iTracker. View the total number of visits and visitors to each menu item.

Note. This page does not display any data if you selected the All Menu Items value in the Assign Content Ratings field on the Menu Items page for the ITRACKER poll ID. This page can only display data for individual menu items selected by choosing the Select Menu Items value.

Poll ID	Displays the identifier for the poll.
Poll Type	Displays the default value of Content Rating.
Active	Select the check box to make the poll active on the Content Ratings pagelet. The poll will not be available on the Content Ratings pagelet unless this box is selected.
Show Results to Respondents	Select to enable respondents to view the poll results when they have completed the poll and each subsequent time they access the poll’s menu item or URL.
Description	Enter a description of the poll.