SmartAssembly

Application Analytics: make decisions based on data, not guesses

SmartAssembly’s Feature Usage Reporting can tell you a lot more than just what’s shown in the UI. A wealth of extra information is stored in the SQL Server database which feature usage data is downloaded to. To make use of that data, we've created an Excel spreadsheet that derives statistics from that additional information, and presents the results in a highly accessible format.

Just like the web analytics that you're probably familiar with, this spreadsheet offers analytics on the way end-users work with your application. Before, when making decisions about future development and prioritizing bug fixes, you had to rely on guesswork. Now, you can base these decisions on quantitative data.

Examples of data the spreadsheet offers

View some worked examples, or read a case study illustrating how we used the spreadsheet internally to prioritize bug fixing in .NET Reflector.

Note: the spreadsheet requires Microsoft Excel 2007 or later. Some features are unavailable if your Feature Usage Reporting data is stored in an MDB file.

Setting up the Feature Usage Reporting analysis spreadsheet

To start using the Feature Usage Reporting analysis spreadsheet, you need to download the spreadsheet and configure the Summary worksheet:

1. Make a note of the address of the SQL Server or path to the MDB file that is used for feature usage reports (see Setting the reports database).
2. Use the Download button below to download and save a copy of the spreadsheet.
3. If prompted, enable the macros in the spreadsheet.
4. On the Summary worksheet, select the location of your Feature Usage Reporting data.
   1. If you selected SQL Server, enter the address of your SQL Server in cell C6.
   2. If you selected MDB file, enter the path to your MDB file in cell C7.
5. Click Refresh Sheet.

The worksheet displays the SmartAssembly projects for which data is available.

Using the Feature Usage Reporting analysis spreadsheet

Once you have configured the Summary worksheet, select the project for which you want to display data:

1. Display the Project Summary worksheet.
2. In cell C4, select a project.
3. If required, in cell C6, select a build.
4. Click Refresh Sheet.

To view analysis data for the selected project:

1. Display one of the worksheets containing analysis data, for example, Features.
2. Click Refresh Sheet to update the information displayed.

Note: whenever you change to a different worksheet, you must click Refresh Sheet to update the displayed information before carrying out your analysis. If you do not refresh the sheet, you may see incomplete data or data for a different project.