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User Activity Report

Every request to the platform is recorded with who made it, from which application, how long it took and how much data it returned. The User Activity Report turns those records into a picture of how the platform is being used:

  • Who uses the platform most, and from where: the portal, Excel, Python or scripts?
  • Which services are used most, and how much data do they return?
  • Which requests are slow, and is it always the same report or curve?
  • What did one user do this morning?
  • Is anyone still working in the UAT or test environments?

At Northgate Energy, Sam Patel in IT runs the report weekly to see how the Excel add-in is being adopted and to catch slow reports before traders complain about them.

The Overview tab of the User Activity Report for the last 7 days

Opening the report​

The report is in the Reports menu, in the Users category, as User Activity Report (report id #INSIGHT_USER_ACTIVITY). It opens on Today and loads straight away. Every tab uses the same date range and search.

ControlWhat it does
Date rangeToday, Yesterday, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last month or This month. Choosing one fills in Start and End.
Start, EndChange the start or end date and time yourself. The range starts at Start and ends just before End.
SearchShows only requests where the user, action, application, service, key, date or environment contains the text (any case). It applies to every tab.
Debug logAt the bottom of the page: the requests the report made and how many records came back
note

The presets work in UTC. Today starts at midnight UTC.

Key ideas​

IdeaWhat it means
EventOne request to the platform by one user
ApplicationWhere the request came from, such as the portal, the Excel add-in, the Python SDK, an ODSL script or the REST API
ServiceThe platform service called, such as data, object or report
KeyThe item requested, where there is one
EnvironmentThe data environment the request was made in
DurationHow long the platform took to answer, in milliseconds
SizeHow much data the answer contained, in bytes

The tabs​

Overview​

CardWhat it shows
Total eventsRequests in the range
Unique usersDifferent users
Unique applicationsDifferent applications
Unique servicesDifferent services
Avg durationAverage time to answer a request
Data transferredTotal size of all answers

Below the cards, Top Users, Top Applications and Top Services show the five with the most requests.

Activity Log​

The requests themselves, 50 to a page, with First, Prev, Next and Last to move between pages. Columns: User, Action, Application, Service, Key, Date, Environment, Duration (ms) and Size (bytes).

The Activity Log tab

Select Export (CSV) to download every request that matches the date range and search, not just the page on screen.

Users​

One row per user, most active first (up to 500): Events, Distinct Apps, Avg Duration (ms), Data Transferred and Last Activity.

The Users tab

Applications​

One row per application (up to 500): Events, Distinct Users, Avg Duration (ms) and Data Transferred.

The Applications tab

Services​

One row per service (up to 500): Events, Distinct Users, Avg Duration (ms) and Data Transferred.

The Services tab

Performance​

Slowest Individual Events lists the 25 slowest requests in the range, with who made them and what they asked for. Average Duration by Action lists each action with its number of requests, average and longest duration, slowest first.

The Performance tab

At Northgate the slowest requests are runs of the NGE_DAILY_POSITIONS report from Excel. That points to the report itself rather than the network or one user's machine.

tip

Every summary table has its own Export (CSV) button, which downloads the table as shown.

Where the data comes from​

WhatWhere
RequestsThe platform's request metrics (the metric service)
SummariesWorked out on the server, so the tabs stay quick over long date ranges

Troubleshooting​

ProblemWhat to do
The report is emptyWiden the date range, and check you have read access to the metric service.
A user is missingCheck the search box is empty, and that the user made requests in the date range.
The Activity Log is not in date orderThe list is shown in the order the platform returns it. Use Export (CSV) and sort the file, or narrow the date range.