Implement the Experience Cloud Identity Service for Analytics, Audience Manager, and Target

These instructions are for Analytics, Audience Manager, and Target customers who want to use the Experience Cloud Identity Service and do not use Data Collection tags. However, we strongly recommend that you use tags to implement the ID service. Tags streamlines the implementation workflow and automatically ensures the correct code placement and sequencing.

Step 1: Plan for server-side forwarding

In addition to the steps described here, customers who use Analytics and Audience Manager should migrate to server-side forwarding. Server-side forwarding lets you remove DIL (Audience Manager’s data collection code) and replace it with the Audience Management Module. See the server-side forwarding documentation for more information.

Migrating to server-side forwarding requires planning and coordination. This process involves external changes to your site code and internal steps that Adobe must take to provision your account. In fact, many of these migration procedures need to happen in parallel and get released together. Your implementation path should follow this sequence of events:

Step 2: Download the ID Service code

The ID Service requires the VisitorAPI.js code library. To download this code library:

Step 3: Add the Visitor.getInstance function to the ID Service code

Part 1: Copy the Visitor.getInstance function below

var visitor = Visitor.getInstance("INSERT-MARKETING-CLOUD-ORGANIZATION ID-HERE", {
     trackingServer: "INSERT-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE", // same as s.trackingServer
     trackingServerSecure: "INSERT-SECURE-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE", // same as s.trackingServerSecure

     // To enable CNAME support, add the following configuration variables
     // If you are not using CNAME, DO NOT include these variables
     marketingCloudServer: "INSERT-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE",
     marketingCloudServerSecure: "INSERT-SECURE-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE" // same as s.trackingServerSecure
});

Part 2: Add function code to the Visitor API.js file

Place the Visitor.getInstance function at the end of the file after the code block. Your edited file should look like this:

/*
========== DO NOT ALTER ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE ==========
Version and copyright section
*/

// Visitor API code library section

// Put Visitor.getInstance at the end of the file, after the code library

var visitor = Visitor.getInstance("INSERT-MARKETING-CLOUD-ORGANIZATION ID-HERE", {
     trackingServer: "INSERT-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE", // same as s.trackingServer
     trackingServerSecure: "INSERT-SECURE-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE", // same as s.trackingServerSecure

     // To enable CNAME support, add the following configuration variables
     // If you are not using CNAME, DO NOT include these variables
     marketingCloudServer: "INSERT-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE",
     marketingCloudServerSecure: "INSERT-SECURE-TRACKING-SERVER-HERE" // same as s.trackingServerSecure
});

Step 4: Add your Experience Cloud Organization ID to Visitor.getInstance

In the Visitor.getInstance function, replace INSERT-MARKETING-CLOUD-ORGANIZATION ID-HERE with your Experience Cloud organization ID. If you do not know your organization ID, you can find it on the Experience Cloud administration page. Your edited function could look similar to the example below.

var visitor = Visitor.getInstance("1234567ABC@AdobeOrg", { ...

Step 5: Add your tracking servers to Visitor.getInstance

Analytics uses tracking servers for data collection.

Part 1: Find your tracking server URLs

Check your s_code.js or AppMeasurement.js files to find the tracking server URLs. You’ll want the URLs specified by these variables:

Part 2: Set tracking server variables

To determine which tracking server variables to use:

If you’re not sure how to find your tracking server see the FAQ and Correctly Populate the trackingServer and trackingServerSecure variables.

Step 6: Update your AppMeasurement.js file

This step requires AppMeasurement. You cannot continue if you’re still using s_code.

Add the Visitor.getInstance function shown below to your AppMeasurement.js file. Place it in the section that contains configurations such as linkInternalFilters, charSet, trackDownloads, etc. :

s.visitor = Visitor.getInstance("INSERT-MARKETING-CLOUD-ORGANIZATION ID-HERE");

(Optional, but recommended) Create a custom prop

Set a custom prop in AppMeasurement.js to measure coverage. Add this custom prop to the doPlugins function of your AppMeasurement.js file:

// prop1 is used as an example only. Choose any available prop.
s.prop1 = (typeof(Visitor) != "undefined" ? "VisitorAPI Present" : "VisitorAPI Missing");

Step 7: Add Visitor API code to the page

Place the VisitorAPI.js file within the <head> tags on each page. When you the VisitorAPI.js file to your page:

Step 8: (Optional) Configure a grace period

If any of these use cases apply to your situation, ask Customer Care to set up a temporary grace period. Grace periods can run for up to 180-days. You can renew a grace period if required.

Partial Implementation

You need a grace period if you have some pages that use the ID service and some pages that do not, and they all report into the same Analytics report suite. This is common if you have a global report suite that reports across domains.

Discontinue the grace period after the ID service is deployed on all your web pages that report into the same report suite.

s_vi Cookie Requirements

You need a grace period if you require new visitors to have an s_vi cookie after migrating to the ID service. This is common if your implementation reads the s_vi cookie and stores it in a variable.

Discontinue the grace period after your implementation can capture the MID instead of reading the s_vi cookie.

See also, Cookies and the Experience Cloud Identity Service.

Clickstream Data Integration

You need a grace period if you send data to an internal system from a Clickstream data feed and that processes uses the visid_high and visid_low columns.

Discontinue the grace period after your data ingestion process can use the post_visid_high and post_visid_low columns.

See also, Clickstream Data Column Reference.

Step 9: Test and verify

The Experience Cloud solutions in this implementation return IDs in the form of key-value pairs. Each solution uses different keys (e.g., the Analytics SDID vs the Target mboxMCSDID) to hold the same ID. To test your implementation, load your pages in a development environment. Use your browser console or software that monitors HTTP requests and responses to check the IDs listed below. The ID service has been implemented correctly when the key-value pairs listed below return the same ID values.

All solutions

Check for the:

For additional checks that help you determine if the ID service is working properly, see Test and Verify the Experience Cloud Identity Service.

Analytics

Check for the SDID identifier in the JavaScript request. The Analytics SDID should match the Target mboxMCSDID.

If your tests return an AID, that indicates either of the following:

When you see an AID, check its value against the Target mboxMCAVID. These values are identical when the ID service has been implemented correctly.

Audience Manager

To test server-side forwarding, see How to verify your server-side forwarding implementation.

Target

Check for the:

If your tests return an mboxMCAVID, that indicates either of the following:

When you see an mboxMCAVID, check its value against the Analytics AID. These values are identical when the ID service has been implemented correctly.

Deployment

Step 10: Deploy

Deploy your code after it passes testing.

If you enabled a grace period: