Technology - Browsers Report

The Browsers report helps administrators to historically analyze the user experience on the web site/web application when a particular browser is used. Using this report, administrators can figure out the browsers that are extremely slow/fast in accessing the web site/web application, the browsers that are error-prone, the browsers that are used most often by the users (this can be identified by the number of page views of a web site/web application) etc. If the performance of one/more browsers is continuously poor, then administrators may need to analyze the real cause behind such poor show – is it due to the incompatible APIs that are taking too much of the frontend time? or is the DOM processing time and DOM rendering time impacting the browsers leading to a high network time? or is the web page being accessed is rendered slow from the backend server? Using this report, administrators can identify the past performance trends of the browsers, figure out the incompatible browsers and proactively warn users against using those browsers or ensure compatibility of the web site/web application across all browsers.

To generate this report, do the following:

Login to eG Reporter.
Follow the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> RUM Reports -> Technology -> Browsers.
When Figure 1 appears, first indicate the Report Type to be generated. To generate the report in a tabular format, choose the Data option. For a graphical representation of the report, select the Graph option.
Select the service from the Service list box for which the report is to be generated.
The Component list will then be populated with the components that are associated with the chosen Service. Select a component of your choice from this list.

Figure 1 : Generating the Browsers report
By default, the report provides the details of only the Top-10 browsers using which the chosen Component i.e., the web site/web application is viewed. You can choose either ALL or a different top-n option from the Show Top list, if need be.
If you have chosen to generate a graphical report, then a Measure list box will appear using which you can select a measure based on which the report will be generated.
If you have chosen to generate the report in a tabular format by selecting Data from the Report Type list, then a Based on measure list will appear. Selecting a measure of your choice from this list will ensure you that the generated report is sorted based on the values of the chosen measure.
If you have chosen to generate the report in a tabular format by selecting Data from the Report Type list, then, from the Browser list, you can choose the browser for which you wish to generate the tabular report. By default, All option will be displayed in this list.
Provide a report Timeline. You can either select a fixed timeline such as 1 hour, 2 days, etc., or choose the Any option from the Timeline list, and then provide a From and To date/time for report generation.

Note:

For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user's Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Run Report button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.
In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the Run Report button soon after you pick a Measure. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the icon. The default settings will then appear in the MORE OPTIONS drop down window (see Figure 2). The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.

Figure 2 : The default settings for generating a Browsers report
If the timeline specified for the report needs to exclude the data collected during the Weekends, then set Exclude weekends to Yes. If not, select No.

Note:

By default, the weekend constitutes Saturday and Sunday. To override this default setting, do the following:
- Edit the eg_report.ini file in the <EG_INSTALL_DIR>\manager\config directory.
- In the [RUM_REPOTRS] section of the file, the EXCLUDE_WEEKEND parameter is set to Saturday, Sunday by default. You can modify this by setting the EXCLUDE_WEEKEND parameter to a comma-separated list of other days of the week - say Friday, Saturday.
- Save the file after making the required changes.
Next, specify the start time and end time for report generation against the Time period field.
In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, you can either select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.

Note:
- The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the [EG_INSTALL_DIR]\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
- The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background Save - PDF. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.
Finally, click the Run Report button to generate the report.

Figure 3 : The Browsers report generated when the Report Type is chosen as Graph
If the Report Type is Graph and the chosen Measure is Average Page Load Time, then the graph will be generated as shown in Figure 3. The graph clearly points the administrator to the browser on which the web site/web application took too long to load. By clearly viewing the graph, administrators can identify at a single glance that the Android browser has encountered issues while accessing the web site/web application.

Figure 4 : The Browsers report generated when the Report Type is chosen as Data
If the Report Type is Data, then upon choosing the Average Page Load Time from the Based on Measure list and ALL from the Browsers list, then the tabular report (see Figure 4) that is generated will be sorted in descending order based on the Average page Load Time which clearly indicates the browser that took too long to load the web site/web application.