Getting Started: Migrating to Adobe DTM

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This article walks through items to consider as you plan your migration to DTM as well as related best practices to help get your implementation off on the right foot. 

Planning your DTM setup Component Overview

Here’s a quick overview of the basic DTM company structure to prepare for the decisions involved in planning your DTM setup.

In DTM a company is a grouping of web properties.

A web property is a grouping of tools, rules, and data elements configured to collect data and deploy tags / scripts on your site(s). 

Each web property is associated with one embed code that’s responsible for loading the specific property configurations on your site(s).

Users are managed at the company level but can be permissioned for each property with the exception of the Admin role. The Admin role is global and has full permissions for all properties in a company. 

More information on user roles here: https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/dtm/groups.html

Planning your DTM setup Decision points

With the basic DTM company structure in mind, let’s discuss the related decision points as you plan your DTM setup. 

How many companies do I need?

In most cases one company will best meet business needs.

The primary reason for having more than one company is to accomplish complete separation of users and web properties.

This type of configuration is most typical for large businesses with numerous sets of web entities that are run by various business divisions. 

How should I distribute my domains and subdomains into web properties?

Web properties can be configured as one to one or one to many with your domains.

To decide what will work best for your business, consider the cross-domain similarities and differences of the following variables. 

• Data collection methods and sources
• Tools and tags deployed
• Site code structure
• DTM user workflows

In most cases one web property per one domain will best meet business needs due to considerable differences in one or many of the above variables.

This type of setup most effectively accommodates each domain’s needs while still allowing for easy duplication of cross-domain constants via the ‘copy’ functionality.

However, in cases where these variables are the same or very similar across domains it may make more sense to have multiple domains within one web property. In these cases, this setup can reduce unnecessary duplication between properties.

This same reasoning can be used for subdomain distribution.

Use cases Examples

Scenario – My business division manages several domains. We’re deploying analytics across all domains, but each domain has its own reporting suite and tracking needs.

Solution – Leverage one property for each domain.

Scenario – My business division manages several domains. We’re deploying analytics across all domains and use one global reporting suite to collect all of our data. Data sources between domains are very different due to variations in site code structure.

Solution – Leverage one property for each domain.

Scenario - My business division manages several domains. We’re deploying analytics across all domains and use a global reporting suite and global data layer to collect all of our data. The rest of our tools and tags are mostly consistent between domains and we’re planning to have the same users manage the publish workflow.

Solution – Leverage one property for all domains. 

Migration Best Practices

After determining the optimal company and property distribution, consider the following best practices as you begin your DTM migration.

Process workflow

Develop a systematic process for migrating existing page code into DTM to help ensure a smooth transition.

It’s generally recommended to start this process in lower level staging environments and migrate code on a page-by-page or site section by site section basis.

This will allow you to fully vet DTM configurations before removing any pre-existing page code reducing the risk of implementation disruption.

Working with IT

It’s important to work with your IT team upfront to determine current processes and deployment cycles.

This will help ensure proper and timely placement of the embed code and coordinated removal of effectively migrated page code.

People Workflow & Governance

Another important concept is establishing a user workflow. Thoughtfully assigning user roles provides governance to the DTM workflow. 

This will ensure all items are fully vetted by the right members of your team before being pushed to production.

More information on migrating to DTM here: https://marketing.adobe.com/resources/help/en_US/dtm/migration.html

Up next in the five part Getting Started series: Migrating to DTM - A Closer Look at Adobe Analytics.