The Cisco CMX Presence Analytics Service

Overview of the Presence Analytics Service

The Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (Cisco CMX) Presence Analytics service enables organizations with small deployments, even those with only one or two access points (APs), to use the wireless technology to study customer behavior.

The Cisco CMX Presence Analytics service is a comprehensive analytics and engagement platform that uses APs to detect visitor presence based on their mobile devices’ Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI). The AP detects these client mobile devices irrespective of the latter’s wireless association state as long as they are within the specified signal range, and the wireless option is enabled on the mobile device (ability to detect devices wirelessly even if they are not connected to the network).

You can use the PRESENCE ANALYTICS Dashboard to view the following key performance indicators (KPIs) of the various client mobile devices at a specific site:

  • Visitors

  • Average Dwell Time

  • Peak Hour

  • Passerby-to-visitor conversion rate

  • Manufacturers of popular client mobile devices detected by AP

These KPIs can be viewed for any duration (day, week, month, or custom) not exceeding 180 days from the current date. You can also customize the display to show data for a specific day, weekend, or even trends over a month.

Installing the Presence Analytics Service

You cannot run the Presence Analytics and the Location services on the same box. Therefore, you should choose either the Location service or the Presence Analytics service during the initial installation.

Benefits of the Presence Analytics Service

  • Enables organizations with small deployments, even those with just one or two APs, to understand customer behavior.

  • Enhances on-site customer experience through insights into their mobile behavior across locations.

  • Measures customer engagement and loyalty across sites through location statistics.

  • Compares visitor trends between sites to gauge the effect of marketing actions.

Initial Configurations

In order to use the Cisco CMX Presence Analytics service, choose the Presence option when you install Cisco MSE Virtual Appliance. For more information, see the “Installing a Cisco MSE Virtual Appliance” section in the Cisco MSE Virtual Appliance Installation Guide for this release at: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/wireless/mobility-services-engine/products-installation-and-configuration-guides-list.html. After installation, perform the following operations:

  • Add Controllers.

  • Add sites.

  • Add APs.

Presence Analytics Dashboard

The Presence Analytics Dashboard contains the following charts:
Table 1. Presence Analytics Charts

Chart

Description

Insights

Shows key insights for a week and month, including busiest days, busiest hours, peak days, and peak counts.

Note 

Insight data allows comparison of current site metrics in comparison to the previous week and month. It is computed daily for all sites during aggregation.

Proximity

Shows information such as those pertaining to passersby, visitors, and connected devices, by hour (if it is a single day or last 3 days), or by day, for the given site.

Proximity Distribution

Shows information such as those pertaining to passers-by or visitors, and connected percentages for a given site for a given duration.

Dwell Time

Shows the visitor dwell levels by hour or by day. You can see the following dwell levels:

5-30 mins—Visitors who spent 5-30 mins in the site.

30-60 mins—Visitors who spent 30-60 mins in the site.

1-5 hours—Visitors who spent 1-5 hours in the site.

5-8 hours—-Visitors who spent 5-8 hours in the site.

8+ hours—-Visitors who spent more than 8 hours in the site.

Dwell Time Distribution

Shows visitor dwell-level percentages for a given site for a given duration.

Repeat Visitors

Shows repeat visitors by hour or by day. You can see the following repeat visitor categories:

Daily—Visitors who visited the selected site at least 5 days in the last 7 days.

Weekly—Visitors who visited the selected site at least on 2 different weeks over the last 4 weeks.

First Time—Visitors who visited the selected site for the first time.

Occasional—Visitors who are not daily, weekly, or first-time visitors.

Yesterday—Visitors who visited the site the previous day.

Repeat Visitors Distribution

Shows the repeat visitor distribution percentage.

Adding Sites

You can add new sites individually, or upload a .CSV list of sites to add sites in bulk.

You can add new sites using one of the following methods:

Adding Sites Individually

To add a site individually, perform the following task:

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

Step 3

Click the Sites tab.

Step 4

Click Add Site .

Step 5

In the Name field, enter the name of the site.

Step 6

In the Address field, enter the address of the site.

Step 7

Configure the Signal Strength Threshold to determine whether a client device is in the site or is just a passer-by. You can move the circular blue buttons to specify the Visitor Signal Threshold and Ignore Signal Threshold values.There are two RSSI threshold values defined for a site, low (-95 dBm default) and high (65 dBm default).

Note 

The lower RSSI threshold is bounded to -95 dBm to -45 dBm and the higher threshold is bounded to -90dBm to -40 dBm.

The difference between the two threshold must not be less than 5.

The minimum dwell time is bound to 0 to 20

  • Clients with RSSI below the low threshold (-95 dBm default) are discarded.

  • Clients with RSSI above the low threshold are classified as “passer-by”. The RSSI threshold range for passer-by clients is between -95dBm and -75 dBm.

  • Clients with RSSI above high threshold over x minutes (default 5) in past 20 minutes are classified as visitors.

  • Clients associated with AP in a site are classified as connected clients at the site.

Step 8

In the Configure the Minimum Dwell Time For Visitor (minutes) field, specify the minimum dwell time for visitors. The minimum dwell time for visitors is 20 minutes.

Step 9

Click Save .

Adding Sites in Bulk

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (Cisco CMX).

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

Step 3

Click Import .

Step 4

Under Sites , click Browse .

The File Upload dialog box is displayed.

Note 

The file that you upload for importing site information must be in .csv format.

Step 5

Navigate to the location of the CSV file that contains the list of sites you wish to upload, select the CSV file, and click Open . To import the site details correctly, store them in the following order and format: Site Name, Address, RSSI High Threshold, RSSI Low Threshold, Dwell Time in Minutes, Timezone . For example, Test Site,123 Main Street City CA US,-65,-95,5 US/Pacific .

Step 6

Click Import .

A set of new sites is created and added to the table of sites under PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

Viewing Available Sites

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

Step 3

Under the Sites tab, you can view a list of available sites in a tabular format, sorted alphabetically by site name. You can customize your view of the Sites table by sorting according to Location , Timezone , or AP count .

Editing an Existing Site

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

Step 3

Under Sites , click the name of the corresponding site listed in the table of available sites.

The dialog box is displayed.

Step 4

Edit the site Name , site Address , Signal Strength Threshold limits, or the Minimum Dwell Time for Visitor .

Step 5

Click Save .

Deleting an Existing Site

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

Step 3

Under Sites , check the check box of the site that you want to delete.

Step 4

Click Delete .

You will receive a confirmation dialog box when you try to delete a site. Click OK to confirm the delete action.

Note 

If you want to delete all available sites simultaneously, select the check box in the header row, and then click Delete.

Searching for a Site

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Sites .

Step 3

In the Search field on the top right-corner of the window, enter the site’s name, and press the Return key. If the specified site has already been added to PRESENCE ANALYTICS , it is displayed in the search results.

Adding APs

You can add new APs individually or by uploading a .CSV list of APs to add them in bulk.

You can add new APs, with or without maps, using one of the following methods:

  • Add APs individually—Add individual APs to specific sites. For more information, see Adding an AP to a Site.

  • Add APs in bulk—Add multiple APs at one go by importing a list of APs in .CSV format. For more information, see Adding APs in Bulk.

Adding an AP to a Site


Note

If you do not see the AP list, youshould update the community string of the WLC using the System > Settings window. The AP information is retrieved from the WLC using SNMP.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

To add an AP to a site individually:

  1. Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Sites .

  2. In the table of available sites, click the name of the site to which you want to associate the new AP.

  3. Click the Details icon next to AP count .

    A list of available APs is displayed in a tabular format.

  4. Enter the MAC address of the AP you want to add and associate to the specified site.

  5. Click Add .

    The specified AP is added and associated to the specified site.

Step 3

To add one or more APs to a site:

  1. Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Access Points .

  2. From the APs by Controller drop-down list, select the APs that you want to add to a site.

    You can use the Ctrl+a or Command+a keys to select all sites from drop-down list.

  3. After selecting the APs, click Close .

    The count of the APs you selected from the available APs is shown in the drop-down list, for example, 8 of 160 selected.

  4. Click Add to Site .

  5. Select the site to which you want to add the selected APs.

  6. Click Add .

    The selected APs are added and associated to the specified site.

    To create a site from this page, click Create Site .

Step 4

Under Controller AP list , click Download CSV to download the .CSV file, add the missing site names for APs, and import the file again from the Import tab.

CSV Format: Radio MAC Address,Ethernet MAC Address,Name,Site Name,Site Address

Example: aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff,bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:11,AP-1,Site-1,123 Main St City CA US

Adding APs in Bulk

To add APs to a site in bulk:

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Import .

Step 3

Under APs , click Browse .

The File Upload dialog box is displayed.

Step 4

Navigate to the location of the .CSV file that contains the list of APs you want to upload, select the .CSV file, and click Open .

To import the AP details correctly, store them in the following order and format:Radio MAC Address,Ethernet MAC Address,Name,Site Name,Site Address , for example, aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff,bb:cc:dd:ee:ff:11,AP-1,Site-1,123 Main St City CA US

Step 5

Click Import .

A set of new APs is created and added.

Deleting an AP

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Sites .

Step 3

In the table of available sites, click the name of the site from which you want to delete and unassociate the corresponding AP.

The dialog box is displayed.

Step 4

Click the Details icon next to AP count .

A list of available APs is displayed in a tabular format.

Step 5

Click the Delete icon next to the AP that you wish to delete.

Viewing Site Details for a Specified Period

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS .

Step 3

Select a site from the SITE drop-down list.

Step 4

Select a duration from the DATE drop-down list. You can choose from the following options:

  • Today

  • Yesterday

  • Last 3 Days

  • Last 7 Days

  • Last 30 Days

  • This Month

  • Last Month

  • Custom—Specify a date range and click Change. You can either manually enter the dates in the FROM and TO fields in yyyy-mm-dd format, or select the dates from the respective calendars. These calendars are displayed when you select Custom or click the FROM or TO fields. The window is refreshed to show the site KPIs based on your selection.

    Note 

    You can choose a single day by selecting the same date in both the FROM and the TO fields.

Viewing KPI Summary

You can click any of the following KPI buttons that appear at the top of the window to view further details about a visitor’s behavior at the site:

  • Visitors—Clients associated with AP in a site are classified as visitors at the site.

  • Average Dwell Time—Average dwell time or a wait time of all the visitors in a location.

  • Peak Hour—The hour at which maximum number visitors are found in a location.

  • Conversion Rate—Conversion rate is a percentage of passersby who are converted to visitors and is computed as visitors / (visitors + passersby) x 100.

  • Top Device Maker—Manufacturer of popular client mobile devices detected by AP

Viewing Device Proximity, Count, and Distribution for a Specific Site

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS .

Step 3

Select a site from the SITE drop-down list.

Step 4

Select or specify a duration from the DATE drop-down list.

The window is refreshed to show the site details based on your selection.

Step 5

Click the corresponding elements within the Proximity or Proximity Duration chart to view hourly breakdown of passersby, visitors, and connected devices for the selected site during the specified duration.

Note 
If the duration selected in Step 4 exceeds one day, clicking the elements in the Proximity chart will display the details for the selected site for the specific date.

Emailing a Report

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS .

Step 3

Click the Email icon.

Step 4

Enter the email address of a recipient.

Step 5

Enter notes, if any.

Step 6

Click Send .

If you want to send this email later, check the Schedule check box and enter Schedule parameters such as Start From (date and time) and Frequency (Daily or Weekly), and then click Schedule .

Printing a Report

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS .

Step 3

Click the Printer icon.

Step 4

Specify the printer settings.

Step 5

Click OK .

Generating a PDF Report


Note

You can customize the logo on the PDF reports. To view an archived report, choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Reports .

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS .

Step 3

Click the PDF Report icon.

Step 4

Enter notes for the PDF report, if any.

Step 5

Enter the email address (optional) of the recipient. If there are multiple recipients for the report, separate the email addresses using a comma.

Step 6

Click Submit .

If you want to schedule the PDF report to a future date, check the Schedule check box and enter the Schedule parameters such as Start From (date and time) and Frequency (Daily or Weekly), and then click Schedule .

Managing Reports

The Presence Analytics service enables you to manage the scheduled and generated reports. In addition, you can customize the logo that appears on the generated PDF reports.

The Reports window contains the following areas:

  • Report Logo—Enables you to upload an image file that you can use as a logo for your PDF report.

  • Scheduled Reports—Enables you to modify or delete a report that is already scheduled (email or PDF).

  • Generated PDF Reports—Enables you to download or delete a generated PDF report.

Procedure

  • To upload a logo for your report, perform the following steps:

    1. Log in to Cisco CMX.

    2. Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

    3. Click Reports .

    4. In the Report Logo area, click Browse and then choose the image file that you want upload as the report logo.

    5. Click Upload .

  • To edit or delete a scheduled report, perform the following steps:

    1. Log in to Cisco CMX.

    2. Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

    3. Click Reports .

    4. In the Scheduled Reports area, under the Link column, click either Edit or Delete .

      If you choose to edit a scheduled report, the existing schedule details are displayed in the EDIT SCHEDULED REPORT window, where you can make the necessary changes.

  • To download or delete a generated PDF report, perform the following steps:

    1. Log in to Cisco CMX.

    2. Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage .

    3. Click Reports .

    4. In the Generated Reports area, under the Link column, click either Download or Delete .

Specifying Filter Parameters

The Filter Parameters tab allows you to exclude data from a specific SSID, MAC address, or defined duration.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Filters.

Step 3

Check the Enable Exclusion Filters check box to exclude data.

Step 4

Click Save .

Enabling a Global Site

Enabling a Global site combines all the existing data from all the individual sites into a single large site so that you can view the data for all the sites at once. You must provide a time zone for the global site, which will override all individual site time zones. All the analysis will be in context of the time zone defined for the global site.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Global Sites.

Step 3

Check the Enable Global Site check box.

Step 4

Specify Site Name , Address , and Time Zone .

Step 5

Click Save .

Creating a Site Group

Site groups allow you to combine information from multiple sites for analysis, for example, all the sites in the same time zone.

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Choose PRESENCE ANALYTICS > Manage > Site Groups.

Step 3

Click Create Group .

Step 4

Specify Group Name , Address , Timezone , and Sites .

Step 5

Click Save .

Changing the Presence Analytics Theme

Procedure

Step 1

Log in to Cisco CMX.

Step 2

Click PRESENCE ANALYTICS .

Step 3

Click the Themes icon.

Step 4

Choose your desired theme.