# Administrator Guide

# Synchronizing Analytics

This chapter includes the following topics:

- Overview of Analytics Synchronization
- Performing Force Synchronizations
- Strategizing Synchronization Scheduling

## Overview of Analytics Synchronization

Analytics synchronization is a process by which object dimension data is sent from the remote database to the dimension tables of the Analytics database, where the data is stored. The Automation Service runs the synchronization process using the Analytics sync jobs that are delivered with Analytics. Dimension data is transferred through a JDBC connection.

An Analytics sync job exists for each object. The Analytics Jobs subfolder exists within the Analytics subfolder of the Admin Objects directory. For a complete list of synchronized objects and their associated products and Automation Service jobs, see Synchronized Dimension Data and Associated Jobs.

The Automation Service automatically runs all Analytics sync jobs after you have installed or upgraded Analytics (including having added Analytics jobs to the Automation Service). The first synchronization is a full synchronization, in which the sync jobs transfer dimension data about all of the products’ reported objects and populate the Analytics database’s job records.

After this initial synchronization, the Automation Service automatically and regularly runs partial synchronizations, in which all Analytics sync jobs transfer only dimension data about objects that are new or have been changed since the previous synchronization. Note that if an object is removed from the application on which Analytics is reporting, the record for that object’s dimension data remains in the Analytics database. For this reason, Analytics continues to report the events that occurred on this object before it was removed from the application.

By default, the Automation Service performs a partial synchronization once per day. You can, however, edit each sync job’s schedule to better suit your environment and its usage patterns. For synchronization scheduling guidelines, see Strategizing Synchronization Scheduling.

You can find details of sync jobs in the portal's job history log or in Analytics's sync.log file. For the location of the Analytics sync.log file, see Overview of Logs.

#### Synchronized Dimension Data and Associated Jobs

The following table lists the products that are synchronized with Analytics, the objects whose dimension data is synchronized, and the Analytics job that triggers synchronization of that dimension data. The Analytics Jobs subfolder exists within the Analytics subfolder of the Admin Objects directory.

Table 6-1 Analytics Synchronization - List of Objects and Associated Sync Jobs
Product | Object | Analytics Job
--- | --- | ---
BEA AquaLogic Interaction (“portal”) | Communities | Community Sync Job
Community Pages | Community Page Sync Job
Portlets | Portlet Sync Job
Auth Sources | Auth Source Sync Job
Community to Portlet Relationships | Community Portlet Map Sync Job
Directory Folders | Directory Folder Sync Job
Document Data Sources | Document Data Source Sync Job
KD Documents | Document Sync Job
KD Document to Directory Folder Relationships | Document Folder Map Sync Job
User Properties | Property Sync Job
User Property Values | User Property Sync Job
Note: | User property values that are over 255 characters in length are truncated to 255 characters in the Analytics database. The user property values are not altered in the portal database.
Users | User Sync Job
BEA AquaLogic Interaction Collaboration | Collaboration Message Post Data | Message Post Sync Job
Collaboration Document Upload Data | Document Upload Sync Job
BEA AquaLogic Interaction Publisher | Content Items | Content Item Sync Job
| Content Folders | Content Folder Sync Job

Note: | Besides Analytics sync jobs, the Admin Objects directory includes these Analytics jobs, which are not related to synchronization:

- User Status Update Job: Uses the Active User Timeout setting to calculate user activity/inactivity. You configure the Active User Timeout setting in Analytics Administration’s Runtime Settings page. For details, see Configuring Runtime Settings.
- Host Resolution Job: Resolves the IP addresses that are sent with events that are delivered with Analytics. This job does not resolve the IP addresses that are sent with custom events.

## Performing Force Synchronizations

A force synchronization populates the Analytics database with the dimension data of objects that are synchronized by Analytics jobs. These jobs are listed in Synchronized Dimension Data and Associated Jobs.

#### Performing a Force Synchronization of All Dimension Data

To perform a force synchronization operation for all dimension data:

1. Execute the following SQL command on the Analytics database:

    TRUNCATE TABLE ASSYS_JOBLOGS

The command deletes all records from the ASSYS_JOBLOG.

2. Schedule the Automation Service to run all Analytics jobs.

The Analytics jobs populate the Analytics database with current dimension data.

#### Performing a Force Synchronization of a Single Object’s Dimension Data

To perform a force synchronization of a single object’s dimension data:

1. Delete the log records for the object’s associated sync job.

The log records are located in the ASSYS_JOBLOGS table.

2. Schedule the Automation Service to run the object’s associated sync job.

The Analytics job populates the Analytics database with the object’s dimension data.

## Strategizing Synchronization Scheduling

Because some dimension data in your environment might change more frequently than other dimension data, we recommend that you adopt a job scheduling strategy that reflects your environment’s unique circumstances.

Following are some examples of scheduling strategies that you can adopt:

- If your portal contains objects that rarely change, run the appropriate Analytics sync job manually. For example, if your portal’s authentication sources rarely change, run the Auth Source Sync Job manually.
- If your portal contains objects that change only once per week, schedule the appropriate Analytics sync job to run once per week. For example, if new portlets and communities are added to your production portal once per week, schedule the Portlet Sync Job and Community Sync Job to run once per week.
- If your portal contains data that changes on a constant basis, schedule the appropriate Analytics sync job to run frequently. For example, if your registration Web site creates portal user accounts throughout the day, schedule the User Sync Job to run once per hour.

Note: | Collaboration object data is sent real time to Analytics when Collaboration sends event data. For this reason, you do not need to schedule the Message Post and Document Upload sync jobs to run periodically. Only use these jobs if you have noticed that the BEA AL Analytics Collector service was not running while users posted messages or uploaded documents to Collaboration.

For complete details on how to schedule Automation Service jobs, see Administrator Guide for BEA AquaLogic Interaction.