NetIQ Adds Customization To Analytics Software

NetIQ Corp. is debuting a new release of its WebTrends Reporting Center Web-analytics software this week with features that provide more detailed, customized views of clickstream data and reports. Analysts and Web-site managers use WebTrends' software to collect and analyze information about site visitors.

The E-business edition of WebTrends Reporting Center 5.0 now has pre-defined "dashboards" that prioritize information for Web-site activities, such as focusing on E-commerce, marketing campaigns, technical reports, or visitor activity. The WebTrends Desktop interface also offers new reporting templates and the WebTrends Map feature that makes it easier for business users to select the topics they want to analyze.

The enterprise edition of the new release includes all of the features of the E-business edition, plus the ability to build custom reports and create and customize new dashboards. A new scenario function lets analysts track visitors through a Web site and analyze their behavior through such critical processes as registration and checkout. And new comparative reports provide a way to analyze Web-site visitor behavior trends over time.

WebTrends users should find upgrading to the new release fairly easy because NetIQ has done a good job maintaining the software's look-and-feel from earlier versions, IDC analyst Robert Blumstein says. But he says it will take a while for companies used to pre-defined reports to adopt the customizable reporting capabilities. "Many of them don't even know what they should be looking at," Blumstein says.

Pricing starts at $3,500 for the E-business edition and $10,500 for the enterprise edition. Windows versions of the software are available now while Solaris and Linux versions will ship later this month.