Matomo for the public sector
Authorities, municipalities and public bodies want to know whether people find what they are looking for and whether online services work, with as little data as possible. I set up Matomo to collect very little data, document it for the authority's data protection officer and train the editorial teams. My projects include several city administrations and city marketing organisations, authorities, programmes of the Swiss federal government and social and health insurers.
Sound familiar?
- 01Measuring without a banner, but on safe groundThe website should work without a cookie banner, and data protection has to back the configuration.
- 02Online services without feedbackAre applications completed online, or do people drop off and call after all?
- 03What is searched for and not foundSite search holds valuable hints but is rarely analysed.
- 04Many departments, one instanceOffices, municipal enterprises and projects need their own reports and their own permissions.
- 05Running it in your own data centreCloud services are out of the question, your own house or IT provider should run Matomo.
- 06The data is there, but nobody reads itThe reports exist, yet hardly anyone in the editorial teams looks at them regularly.
Little data, even without a banner
Matomo can measure without cookies, without reading device properties and with shortened IP addresses. Whether that is enough for your website without consent is assessed by your authority’s data protection officer. I provide the technical configuration and documentation they can rely on.
Measuring online services and applications
Where do applications drop off, which form fields hold people up, which help pages are read before an application? One example is changing a company name in a multi-step form: I measure every step as a funnel and with form analytics and see, for instance, whether applicants give up when uploading the documents, without storing the input. You see where a service loses people and can improve it specifically.
What people search for and do not find
Site search shows which terms people search for and where there are no results. That turns into concrete tasks for the editorial team: missing pages, different terms, better navigation.
Many departments in one instance
Offices, municipal enterprises and projects get their own websites or reports per area, with permissions per team. If you like, there is also an overall view across all services that management can read without Matomo knowledge.
Running it in-house
Matomo runs in your own data centre or at your IT provider. I plan the installation, harden the instance and hand it over documented. Login works via your identity provider with single sign-on.
Accessibility and procurement
Opt-out and notes on web analytics have to work with keyboard and screen reader too, and I make sure of that when integrating them. For procurement I describe my services as separate building blocks: audit, concept, setup and training can be put out to tender and compared.
Projects for, among others
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
May we measure without a cookie banner?
Matomo can be configured to measure without cookies and without access to device properties, with shortened IP addresses. Whether that is permitted without consent is assessed by your authority's data protection officer. I provide the technical facts and documentation of the settings.
Can our IT provider run Matomo?
Yes. I plan the installation with your data centre or municipal IT provider, harden the instance and hand it over documented. If you want to hand over operations, our sister brand feinwerk.io runs it in German data centres.
How do we separate departments and municipal enterprises?
With separate websites or reports per area and permissions per team. Each office sees its own numbers, and if you like there is also an overall view across all services.
Can your services be put out to tender?
Yes. Audit, concept, setup and training can be described and compared as separate building blocks, so they fit a tender or a direct award.
Do you also train decentralised editorial teams?
Yes, in small groups of three to six people on your own instance, with handouts, checklists and cheat sheets. I also set up dashboards per area that editorial teams can read without prior knowledge.
Sounds like your project?
In an intro call we'll clarify where you stand and what comes first.
Your contactPeter Boehlke, Matomo consultant from Munich, 17 years in the Matomo team