Getting Started
Last updated
Last updated
To begin working with your container you will need:
– A site available in the Commanders Act interface (this is set-up either by a Commanders Act consultant or a support agent).
– “Administrator” or “Technical” rights to access the TagCommander interface.
– A TagCommander data layer implemented in your site’s source code.
Should you need more detailed information on the steps in this quick setup guide, please refer to the desired section in the menu to the left or use the search engine.
Once your technical account manager grants you access to the Commanders Act interface, go to our website www.commandersact.com and click “LOGIN” (1):
Click the “TAG” icon to access the TMS’ dashboard (2).
The first thing to do is to declare in our interface the data layer variables that are implemented in your site’s source code. Variables to declare are indicated in the Commanders Act tagging plan that you receive at the beginning of the project.
Declaring these variables will later allow tag mapping to be performed between the information expected by your solutions and the information available in your data layer.
To declare variables in the interface, click “Options” (1) > “External Variables” (2) > “ADD VARIABLE” (3):
A configuration window will appear: make sure to complete the following fields: “Name“(1) (variable’s name, as per the designation used by your team or technical provider in the source code) and “Description” (2) (variable’s description):
Repeat this step as many times as there are variables available in the data layer in your site’s source code.
The next step consists of adding a new container to your site.
To create a new container, go to the “DASHBOARD” (1) and click “ADD CONTAINER” (2)
A configuration window will appear: enter the name of your container in the “Name” field (1) and click “ADD” (2):
There are different possibilities to add tags to your container ; once it is created, you are automatically directed to the “EDIT” (2) step, where you have the possibility to add tags. When you are there, click the “Add tag(s)” button (3).
Another option is to add tags from the “SELECT” step (1). Simply click the “Add tags” (2) button when you are there.
Here you can look for tags present in your container (3), apply filters (4) to display only active or inactive tags (5), or filter by vendor (6).
In both cases, after you have clicked the “Add tag(s)” button, a window will appear containing the list of all the tag templates available in TagCommander and ordered by solution name.
There are various filters you can use to search for the tag you need (sort by alphabetical order or solution name, or use the search engine).
Select the tag(s) you want (1) and click “ADD TAGS” (2):
Note: if the tag you want to add is not on the list, you have two options:
– Sending an email to either the Commanders Act support department or your Commanders Act consultant requesting that your partner solution be listed in the interface ( this takes close to 3 weeks);
– Adding a “Custom” tag into which you can copy and paste the code sent by the solution.
The tags you just added must now be populated with data required by your partner solutions.
Within the TagCommander interface, you must create the link between the information requested by the different tags in the container and data available in the data layer. Establishing this connexion is called “Mapping“.
Overview of mapping in TagCommander
Every variable slot (or nearly, depending on your needs) present in a tag (displayed in between pound signs/hashtags in the interface (3)) must be linked to a variable (external or internal, previously declared in the interface (see Step 1 – declaring TagCommander variables ), or to a static value*).
*values that do not change, like your account ID (5).
In the image below you see :
1) The list of tags, and the one you are currently mapping highlighted in pink.
2) The tag’s name (which you can edit).
3) The available variable #slots# that will host values collected by the variables from the datalayer.
4) The list of variables that were declared in the options section, by category (displayed when the drop down menus are unfolded)
5) The option to enter static values.
The “EDIT” step (1) allows you to perform the mapping (above) between the tag variables and data layer variables.
To map variables, click the arrows in the same row as slots are (1 & 2). When you click the arrow, a menu will unfold with the list of declared and available variables (3) and a pencil icon to write custom values. You can also use the search engine (4) to find the variable you are looking for much faster.
In the tag’s code, the slots that hold the dynamic variables’ values appear in blue boldface as shown above.
In the image below, on the left-hand side of the interface (1), you can see a list of tags that have been added to the container. A “warning” icon appearing before the tags’ names indicates that they have not yet been completely configured and validated.
When you are done, click “Save” (2)
The “RULES” step (1) allows you to manage built-in and customized tag activation rules. By default, your tags are set to be executed on all the pages of your site, as indicated in the “Summary” table (2).
You can add two types of rules:
– “Perimeters“: perimeters are the page types on which you wish to activate your tags, for example: the homepage, “my account” page, product page, etc.
– “Constraints“: constraints are rules based on criteria other than the page type, for example:visitor status, the type of browser or device, etc.
To create a new perimeter, click “Perimeters” (1) > “ADD PERIMETER” (2):
To create a new constraint, click “Constraints” (1) > “ADD CONSTRAINT” (2):
By clicking “Add perimeter” or “Add constraint“, a rule creation interface will appear (the perimeter and constraint creation interfaces offer the same options). This interface can be seen as a “tool box” that allows you to create rules based on various elements that act as triggers: variable(s) value(s), cookie values, specific URLs or specific words in the URLs, etc.
The available trigger types can be selected at the top of the rules creation interface (1). You can select the most appropriate type of trigger and choose among its different triggering condition(s) (2) to set up a rule on one or more of your tags. For each new rule created, make sure to complete the “Name” field (rule name) and check the box(es) of the tag(s) you wish to execute with the rule (3).
The perimeters you created are displayed by column in the “Summary” tab (1). Your constraints are displayed in the rows corresponding to each tag they act upon(2):
Proceed to the “GENERATE” (1) step to generate a new container version and save all the work done in the preceding steps.
Click the green “GENERATE” button, enter a comment describing the changes you made (2) and click the blue generate button in the pop-in:
You will then be automatically directed to the “TEST” step, and the container tests will begin.
The “TEST” step allows you to test your container before it goes online. This stage is important to guarantee the quality of the tags present in the container and preventing errors from appearing on the site in production.
If your container contains an error, its status will appear as “NOT DEPLOYABLE” (1); you will need go back and correct the error before it can be deployed. Click the red “X” displayed in the relevant browser column (2) to see details on the error(s) found.
Tests are performed on a selection of operating systems and browsers. If no errors are detected, the container will be “DEPLOYABLE” and all check marks will be green (1). There is also a list of versions indicating whether a given version of a container can be deployed or not (2).
If your container’s status is “DEPLOYABLE” in the “TEST” step, you can continue to the “DEPLOY” step (1) to put your container online.
You must first choose the version to deploy (2) and then the deployment method (3) before clicking “DEPLOY” (4) to deploy your version:
Note: When you host your container on Commanders Act’s servers, the default deployment method to select is:
“Set as deployed and send to FTP (CDN)” if you wish to deploy on your published site.
“Set as deployed and send to FTP (CDN UAT)” if you wish to deploy on a site in a UAT environment.
