Provide guidance on the Google Analytics upgrade

Universal Analytics standard properties will stop processing data on July 1, 2023. Google recommends that w switch to Google Analytics 4 now.

If we don't setup a GA4 property with basic settings, starting in March, google will configure one with a few basic settings consistent with the existing Universal Analytics property; this includes certain conversion events, Google Ads links, and existing website tags.

For websites tagged with gtag.js or analytics.js (including through tag management systems like Google Tag Manager), Google will create a connected site tag that will reuse existing tags when possible to send traffic to the new GA4 property. However, it's possible for users to opt out.

We need to research what all of this means and provide some guidance to our projects.

This was raised on #568 (comment 1077144) by @aberezovsky.

mentioned in issue #568 (closed)

assigned to @cguindon

added team:webdev label

@sgiacomoni2as Can you reach out to excentric about this and ask them if they can provide some insight on what they recommend?

I would like to hear their recommendation on the subject.

For the time being, I requested access to the learn more document from google. For some reason, that document is private. I can't read it now.

This is not an official recommendation but simply my thoughts on the subject at the moment:

I think that our recommendation should be to ask/recommend that everyone re-evaluate if they need to use GA. If so, they should migrate to GA4. If they don't use or review the data, it would be best for them to delete their GA property.

It's not really clear to me why someone would want to opt out. It sounds like if you don't opt out, Google will automatically migrate you to GA4.

Extending the deadline to +1 week. We are meeting with Excentric today to discuss this topic and ensure that understand these changes to enable us to make a recommendation.

If you could host Plausible/Matomo/Umami, for example, would be happy to jump from GA.

I am investigating if hosting Matomo is feasible for us this quarter. However, I think we still need to provide guidance for GA until we officially made the decision to switch to a new system.

After meeting with Exentric to discuss this, our recommendation will be the following:

Before upgrading, we will recommend that all projects using GA re-evaluate if it's still needed.

If they don't, we will recommend that they remove GA from their site.

If the data is useful to them we will recommend that they upgrade to GA 4 manually and that they opt out from letting GA make any changes to their account as this would be the safest way for projects to confirm that all is well.

We simply can't assume that GA migration will work for everyone. It will really depend on how everyone is using GA.

I sent a note just now to eclipse.org-committers@eclipse.org on the subject. I also posted a blog post to share the info with the community: https://blogs.eclipse.org/post/christopher-guindon/migrating-google-analytics-4-recommendations-eclipse-project-websites

I am pointing folks to this issue if they have questions about our recommendation. Let's keep this issue open for another 2 weeks!

https://blogs.eclipse.org/post/christopher-guindon/migrating-google-analytics-4-recommendations-eclipse-project-websites

@cguindon is it worth sharing this on our social channels? The audience there is larger than committers, but lots of our committers do follow us on socials.

I think we are good for now. This recommendation target only committers who maintain a website. I would have expected them all to have received my email from the mailing list.

However, it could be a good idea to post on social in May/June to remind committers of the upcoming force upgrade.

Thanks for suggesting it!

Hi Christopher,

As we re-evaluate GA for our projects, we are trying alternatives and looked at Umami. Umami is OSS and privacy focused, fully GDPR & CCPA compliant without any specific setting. It does not collect any personally identifiable information and anonymizes all data collected. Users cannot be identified and are never tracked across websites.

(It also is simpler, more straightforward and needs little resources) and to us it would fit the bill feature wise.

I think it would make more sense for the Foundation to validate such a solution for projects instead of stating Google Analytics with specific settings is the only option.

Would the Eclipse Foundation consider adding this as a preferred option in its policy? Is that a topic we (Obeo) should bring to the board ? WDYT ?

added priorityhigh severitynormal labels

added statetodo label

changed due date to February 17, 2023

added statewip label and removed statetodo label

changed due date to February 24, 2023

changed due date to March 15, 2023

added statedone label and removed statewip label

Closing this issue! I think we are done here!

closed

mentioned in issue #4406 (moved)

mentioned in issue hosted-services-privacy-and-acceptable-usage-policy#4 (closed)