Analytics Canvas data usage policy

This page describes how your data is stored and used when you use the Analytics Canvas client, a data extraction and transformation tool created by nModal Solutions.

Personal Information

The Analytics Canvas tool does not collect or send any personal information other than the Google account used by the user to log in to Google Analytics. For licensing purposes, a machine ID is used in the activation process, and sent to the nModal activation server. This information is used only for billing, license tracking and error reporting purposes.

Usage information for licensing purposes

Because the Analytics Canvas license is based on which web sites are accessed, every installation of Analytics Canvas periodically reports usage to the nModal licensing server.

The following information is sent to or recorded by the nModal licensing server when Analytics Canvas is running;

-The name of the computer
-The date
-The Google User ID of the user.
-The Account, Web Property and profile for each query used in an Analytics Canvas file (.ACC file) one or more times for that date.
-The number of API calls, and the type of API call (but not the specific request)

The number of API calls is reported and monitored as certain quotas exist, and individual users may be limited in API access if they consume excessive numbers of API calls.

In addition, the application reports on general features used, to help nModal understand level of adoption of the various feature sets, as well as to let us contact users of specific features more directly for support and promotional purposes.

It does not record what detailed analysis was done, nor any actual Google Analytics web traffic data.

Error reporting

We take the quality and stability of our software very seriously. As a result, serious errors are reported to the nModal servers to ensure that we understand if issues are occurring, and move quickly to solve them. The following information is reported in the event of a serious exception in the application:

– Account Number
– Machine ID
– The text of the exception, and a stack trace to identify where in the software the issue occurred

Passwords are never revealed.

When users login through Analytics Canvas, they are connecting directly to Google Analytics, their password is never seen by any other site or by nModal, nor are the OAuth Tokens collected transmitted in anyway.

Analytics Canvas does not store Google Analytics passwords inside data canvas files, which are the files that define the data extractions and transformations. When users open these ACC files, they will be required to log in and provide all passwords.

Analytics Canvas uses OAuth to let the user authorize the local installation of Analytics Canvas, and the tokens are stored on the local machine. This authorization can be revoked at any time through the Google account, and does not require access to Analytics Canvas or the authorized machine to revoke.

Analytics data is stored on your local hard drive

When a user connects to Google Analytics using the Analytics Canvas tool, snapshot files are created on the local machine. Just as when exporting data into spreadsheets, or CSV files using the Google Analytics user interface, these files contain analytics data, and remain on the local machine, even after the Analytics Canvas session is closed. The directory where these files exist can be modified, and is found under the Tools->Options menu.

Users control if they want to transfer data into remote files or databases.

Because Analytics Canvas is a data transformation and loading tool, it is able to generate files, and to create tables in databases, if so configured by the user. It is of course up to the user to decide what Google Analytics data they wish to put where- once it is transferred, the security and access of the destination system will determine how the data is available. It does not transfer data unless the user explicitly configures a data export, using a data export block.

Users must be aware of the security of the data transfer process, and the networks it uses. Data being inserted into remote databases may be able to be intercepted and read by others, and security is a function of the individual database vendors and networks involved.