Follow these steps to troubleshoot Smart Connectors and know when to contact Support. This assumes you have found a potential discrepancy between two data sources, or there is believed to be an error. Here is the outline of the steps:
1. Navigate to Drilldowns Page
2. Check settings on Drilldowns Page
3. Verify Source File Location
4. Check File Name and Details
6. Check if discrepancy relates to field with “rate” or “calculated percentage”
These kinds of issues are often identified when evaluating reports. We recommend you start troubleshooting at the Drilldowns Page, not the dashboard, report, or Smart Connector Overview Page. The Drilldowns Page will be the most accurate source of information.
Note: This guide is for Smart Connectors, not Instant On Connectors. Please refer to the appropriate article for assistance with Instant On Connectors.
1. Navigate to Drilldowns Overview page
Begin troubleshooting on the Drilldowns page when you have a Smart Connector issue.
1] Find Data section in the left-side navigation.
2] Select Drilldowns from the list.
2. Check settings on Drilldowns page
To ensure you are looking at the most accurate data, check the following settings:
Verify the date ranges match
Check the date range set in your source data. This could be a file or a hosted location. Then check the date range set in TapClicks.
- Navigate to the top left of the Smart Connector overview.
- Check date range.
- Verify it is the same range as the source data.
- If it is not, then set the range in TapClicks to be the same as the source data.
Verify the Clients & filters match
Check to see that the same client and filters are being viewed in both TapClicks and the source data.
- Navigate to the top left of the Smart Connector overview.
- Click on the filter icon in the top right corner to view filters and clients.
- Check that the correct client is selected.
- Check that the same filters apply in Tapclicks.
Check error messages
If you have notifications set up for this Smart Connector, then a good place to identify errors is to check those first. If you don’t have notifications set up, then using the next steps can be an alternative option.
- Navigate to the Smart Connector overview page.
- Click on the Smart Connector experiencing the issue.
- Check to see if an error message appears on Smart Connector Page
If you encounter this then evaluate if the error seems fixable on your side. If it’s something more complex, then copy the error message and send it to support.
TIP: If you have resolved the error message and it still pops up, click on “Refresh” and you should see the error disappear. Refreshing will make resolved error messages go away.
This step has verified:
The Data Source Overview page matches the source file details.
If the issue is not resolved, then proceed to the next step.
3. Verify source file location
After checking the Data Source Overview page, what if your issue is unresolved? Now you’ll need to troubleshoot whether the source file is being recognized by the TapClicks system.
Verify file is in defined location & data exists in file
Is there a file in the location defined in your Smart Connector?
- Navigate to smart connector configuration
- Look at setup
- If no error messages, then it means things are working correctly, but maybe it can’t find the file
- Look at the delivery type you have selected
- Navigate to that delivery location (Google Drive, FTP, Etc)
- Find the folder where you’re hosting the the file
- If the file exists in that location, then you can verify the file should upload
Is there data in the files?
- Open the file in the source location
- Verify there is data in the file and the file is not missing expected data
- Check the data in the file against the data in the TapClicks
This step has verified:
There is a file in the expected location and there is data in the file.
If the issue is not resolved, then proceed to the next step.
4. Check file name and details
Verify “File Name Date Format” setting
- Navigate to Smart Connector overview page
- Select the Smart Connector experiencing the issue
- Evaluate field called “File Date Name Format”. There are two options: Last Modified or Date.
- Set the File Date Name Format to match your expectation.
- Last modified means: TapClicks will look at the most recently modified file rather than the most recently added file.
- Date: TapClicks is looking at the file name to see the date in the correct date format.
Verify date format in file name is correct
- Verify the file in your delivery type location is using the correct naming convention so the system can identify it. If the file name is not following the date format in the name, then it won’t be discoverable
- If this issue is encountered, simply change the date format in the file name to match the Smart Connector date format
Example: Date format in Smart Connector is dd-mm-yyyy but the format in the file name is mm-dd-yy. To resolve this, change the date format in the file name to match dd-mm-yyyy.
Check file column headers
If the date format in the name is correct and the file location is being identified, then open the file and check the column headers. These should be the same as the mapped field headings in the Smart Connector. It is common that the column headers of your file are incorrect … check correct naming convention and spelling for headers
- Go to source file
- Note the column header names
- Look at field mappings in Smart Connector and compare to column headers
- Verify spelling
- Verify exact syntax (spaces, etc)
- Verify correct pluralization (impression vs impressions)
If the column is not matching, then data will not be read by TapClicks.
Check date format of data
If the column headers are correct, check to see if the date format is readable and correct.
- Go to source file
- Find data that is in date format
- Verify date format in data matches the date format for the Smart Connector setting
- Check date format is consistent in the column
- If previously successful uploads have occurred, check to see if there are any differences in the date format in those files.
5. Check “Unique Fields”
To distinguish between rows of data correctly, the Smart Connector relies on you to define what should be considered “unique” values. The most common condition here relates to over-reporting or under-reporting compared to what is expected. That is, the file is discoverable by TapClicks and data is flowing in, but the data is not complete or is over-reporting. What could be causing this inaccuracy? This likely relates to the configuration of the “Unique Fields”.
Find out more about Unique Fields here: Understanding Unique Fields.
Unique fields help the system understand whether a row should be considered it’s own row or if it should be considered part of the same data as another row. This depends on the system that is feeding the data. Unique Fields is a distinguishing feature of the data.
If you see what appears to be under-reporting in TapClicks, this often indicates not enough unique identifiers are set. If you see what appears to be over-reporting in TapClicks, then too many unique identifiers are set, or the source file was edited after it has been processed into the system.
Verify Unique Field configuration is actually unique
Have both your Source File and TapClicks Smart Connector Edit page open.
- Navigate to Data in TapClicks left nav
- Click on Smart Connector from the subnav
- Click on the Smart Connector believed to be experiencing the issue. This will open the Smart Connector configuration / edit page.
- Find the Unique Field settings for the Smart Connector in the mappings section
- Note which metrics have been checked to represent “unique fields”
- Now evaluate the source file using the unique fields from TapClicks
- Check to see if unique fields actually will generate a unique results each time
Common unique field errors include:
- Account ID (or similar) shows up in more than one row
- Combination of unique fields can be found in more than one row
How to resolve uniqueness issues
Consider changing your unique fields criteria so it will truly deliver a unique value. Often this means using a combination of:
- Use Ad ID
- Campaign ID
- Account ID
- Things that are numeric or system generated
TIP: Try not to use manually added names… because of the potential for typos
This step has verified:
The uniqueness criteria in the Smart Connector correctly delivers a unique value.
If the issue is not resolved, then proceed to the next step.
6. Check if discrepancy relates to field with “rate” or “calculated percentage”
Because TapClicks aggregates data based on dates, calculated fields from the source data may get added together or averaged. For example, there may be a decimal value for “Click Through Rate” in your data. TapClicks may add these fields together resulting in an erroneous value compared to what is expected. Verify whether the observed discrepancy relates to a field like this. If so, it is advised that these fields not be included in the Smart Connector fetch, but rather calculated in TapClicks.
Check if data is a “rate” or “percentage” field
- Navigate to Data in TapClicks left nav
- Click on Smart Connector from the subnav
- Click on the Smart Connector believed to be experiencing the issue. This will open the Smart Connector configuration / edit page.
- Check field mappings
- Determine if any field mappings are “rate” fields. Common rate fields are: CTR, Conversion Rate, Impression Share
- If you discover these as mapped fields remove them and recreate in TapClicks using the Calculations feature
This step has verified:
Rate fields have been identified and removed, replaced by Calculations in TapClicks
If the issue is not resolved, then proceed to the next step.
7. Reach out to Support
- Open Smart Connector Configuration page & screenshot the whole page
- Submit a ticket at support.tapclicks.com
- Include screenshot of Smart Connector page
- Attach file of data that is not uploading correctly
- Tell the Support team you followed these troubleshooting steps. Potentially include the link to this article as reference.