A few weeks ago when talking to a client for who I develop an internal web application he mentioned they wanted to start collecting analytics on the users. I use Google Analytics on all of my web sites but I wasn’t sure about using it on a web application that was not public.

I was looking for open source software that I could host on the server along side my web application. This way the data stays with the client. It was not an exhaustive search since PIWIK came up at the top of my Google search. After a quick read of some reviews, a scan of the info on piwik.org and a look at the demo I had some software to try out.

The installation was very easy. Create your database and then install your software. You set up your website in PIWIK and then add the tracking code to your website. Then sit back and watch the data come in.

One of the goals I had was to track individual users to see how they navigated around the application. PIWIK allows you to set a unique user id and associate custom variables. From there I am able to track a unique user and the user type. It’s a little “Big Brother-ish” but it will allow faster debugging and redesign of navigation based on usage.

The software allows you to collect data on multiple web sites and has many features similar to Google Analytics. There are numerous widgets that can be added, some you pay by the year and some that are free.

If you are looking for a basic analytics package and you don’t want to share your data with Google than you should check PIWIK out.

Need help installing and configuring PIWIK send me an email at john@panolatech.com.