Before you begin: A Channel is a combination of multiple Data Sources or Views, allowing the user to combine metrics from these sources. With Channels, you can define what metrics are displayed and how they are visualized in your Dashboards. There are two types of channels: predefined and custom. Predefined Channels are pre-built groupings of data sources. They include the following:
- Email Services
- Website/Landing Tracking Services
- SEO
- Social Services
- SEM/PPC Services
- Local Listing
- Lead Tracking Services
- Display Services
You can use Predefined Channels as they are or create a copy and make changes.
Predefined Channels can be copied from the main Channels page, as shown below.
There are also Custom Channels, which you create by selecting multiple data sources. A common example of a Custom Channel is combining data from Google Analytics and Google Ads.
Table of Contents
How to Create a Custom Channel
How to Specify Data Views for a Channel
Instructions:
How to Create a Custom Channel
Custom Channels allow you to select multiple Data Sources to create a new "combination" Data Source you can use across the platform. By creating a Custom Channel, you will be able to generate unique insights that display as a single data source.
1] Log in to TapClicks and, on the Data menu, click Channels.
2] The Channels page appears.
3] Click the "+" in the upper right.
4] The New Channel screen appears.
5] Enter a Channel name in the Channel name textbox.
6] Click in the Data Sources box. A list of Data Sources appears.
7] Click a Data Source to add it to the Channel.
8] Repeat steps 6 and 7 for every Data Source you want to add to the Channel.
9] Optionally choose a color for the Channel title by clicking the color circle and then clicking on a color in the popup Color wheel.
10] Optionally add a Channel icon by clicking Click to select icon in the upper right and choosing one from the menu.
11] If you want the system to Automatically create channel fields, leave the checkbox checked.
| NOTE: If you check this box, the system will automatically create fields that are common between the chosen Data Sources. For example, if you select Google Ads and Facebook Ads as Data Sources, the system will automatically select common fields like Client Name and Campaign Name without you having to do it manually. |
12] Click Save Changes at the bottom of the page. You should see the following confirmation message in the upper right.
13] The Data Views portion of the screen becomes active. Now that your channel has been created, you can add more Data Views and Fields.
How to Specify Data Views for a Channel
Data Views are groups of dimensions and fields that make up a Data Source. Examples of these are Campaigns, Ad Groups, Ads, and Creatives. You select the Data Views you want to align from each data source in your channel before aligning the individual dimensions and fields. The available Data Views vary based on the Data Sources you have added to your channel.
14] To add a Data View to the Channel, click the Add data view "+".
15] The New Data View screen appears, which is used to create a new data view for your channel. Channels are comprised of data views from your different data sources. You can choose a data view from some or all the data sources that are in your channel.
16] Click the Data Source View dropdown to choose an available data view.
17] As you select Data Source Views, be sure to click the add button to make the association for each data source view.
18] Repeat step 17 for every Data Source View you want to add.
| NOTE: The Data Source Views you add appear on the left. You can always remove them by clicking the remove button. |
19] When you're done adding views for all your Data Sources, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
20] Click the back arrow in the upper left to return to the Edit Channel screen. Now that you've added a Data View, the next step is to create fields in that data view.
How to Choose Channel Metrics
Channel fields are the individual fields that will appear in your new channel based on the data views you selected. Channel fields can be created by TapClicks, chosen by you, or a combination of the two. Since these are the fields that you will see when you creating data widgets, field definition is a critical step in creating a Custom Channel. As you define the fields, consider what kind of visualizations will tell your data story and where the data originates from. You'll be ready to create dashboards in no time!
| NOTE: If you checked the "Automatically create channel fields" checkbox, you will see fields pre-populated under Data Views. |
Add a field
21] To add a Channel field, click the "+" next to Add Field for the desired Channel
22] The New Field screen appears.
23] Enter a name in the Field name textbox.
24] From the Data type dropdown, choose a data type. This step will inform what metrics you can bring together in the next step. For example, you can't combine "Number" type and "Text" type metrics together to a new field directly in your channel definition. Your goal is to combine similar data types i.e. like with like or "apples to apples" groupings.
25] Now that you have selected a data type, use the Available Metrics dropdowns from each data source to select the metrics you want to pipe into this new field. For example, you may want to create a new field for "Actions" and associate Google Analytics "Goal Starts" and Google Ads "Interactions". You would do this by selecting the appropriate metric from each data source view and then moving it to the left side after clicking the add button
.
26] Repeat step 25 for every field you want to add.
27] When you're done adding fields, click Save Changes at the bottom of the page.
Delete a field
28] To delete a field, click the trash can icon to the right of the field you want to delete.
29] When the confirming popup appears, click Yes, Delete It.
| NOTE: If the field is in use anywhere on the platform, the trashcan icon will be gray. You will not be able to delete the field until all relationships are removed. For more information, please refer to the Relationships Overview article. |
How to Use Data Boundaries
Add a data boundary
Remove a data boundary
33] Open the Data Boundaries section and delete the dates that you had filled in previously.
34] Save your changes to remove the boundaries.
Data boundary notes
Entering a start date and/or end date is optional. This provides maximum flexibility for specific use cases.
- If you input both a start date and an end date, only data within that period will be included in your channel.
- If you input no start date and end date, all data from the data source for all time from the database will be included in your channel.
- If you input no start date, all data up until the end date will be included in your channel.
- If you input no end date, all data from the start date forward will be included in your channel.
Congratulations! You've created a custom channel where you associated data source views and added fields to those views. Assuming that you have data for the data sources in your channel, you can start building dashboard and report studio widgets with this new channel and associated data views and fields to tell your data story.