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Tracking and Debugging Events

Learn how you can track events, debug issues, and verify event flows using Ours Privacy’s tools, including the Recent Events dashboard and test tokens.

Tracking and Debugging Events

The Ours Privacy platform provides tools to help you track and debug events as they flow through the system. This guide will show you:

  1. How you can track events and verify they are being received.
  2. Debugging tools available in the Ours platform.
  3. Best practices for identifying and resolving issues.

Verifying Tracked Events

You can verify events have been sent in the Recent Events Dashboard in the Ours app. This dashboard gives you complete visibility into how events are processed.

How to Access the Dashboard

  1. Navigate to the Recent Events section in the Ours app.
  2. Search for your event by name (e.g., "FormSubmit").
  3. Click on the event to view its details, including:
    • Event Properties: Key-value pairs describing the action.
    • User Properties: Information about the user, such as email or city (hashed or redacted).
    • Destinations: The platforms the event was forwarded to.

Debugging Event Issues

If your event does not appear in the Recent Events dashboard in the Ours app or does not behave as you expect, you can follow these debugging steps:

1. Check Your Installation

  • Verify that your tracking script or Server API integration is set up correctly. See the Installation guide for details.
  • Confirm that the script is loaded on all pages where events are tracked.

2. Confirm the Event is in your Allow List

  • Ensure the event is added to your Event Allowlist in the Ours platform. Only events allowlisted for a specific destination are dispatched to it. For more details, see Adding Events to Your Allowlist.

3. Inspect the Browser Console

  • Open your browser’s developer tools and look for errors related to the ours function.
  • Use console.log to verify that your event properties are being sent correctly.

4. Review Mappers and Privacy Rules

  • Check if a custom mapper is modifying your event data before it is sent to destinations. See Data Mapping for more details.
  • Ensure that privacy rules, such as hashing or redaction, are not unintentionally altering critical data.

5. Inspect Destinations

  • Confirm that your destinations are correctly configured in the Ours platform. Each destination may have specific requirements for the event structure. See the Destinations Overview.

Test Mode

What is Test Mode?

Test Mode is a safe environment where you can validate your analytics setup without sending actual data to your configured destinations. It allows you to:

  • Debug your analytics implementation
  • Verify event tracking configurations
  • Test integrations
  • Ensure everything works as expected before going live

Setting Up Test Mode

Using Test Tokens

  1. Log into the Ours platform
  2. Navigate to your source (Web SDK, GTM, or API)
  3. Copy the test token provided
  4. Use this test token in your implementation

Any event sent using a test token will automatically be processed in test mode.

How Test Mode Works

Event Processing

When you use Test Mode:

  • ✅ Events are fully captured and processed
  • ✅ Events are stored in the Ours platform
  • ✅ Dispatch objects are created
  • ❌ No data is sent to external destinations

Viewing Test Events

  1. Go to the Recent Events view in the Ours app
  2. Look for events marked with a "Test" indicator
  3. Review the intended destinations (where events would be sent in live mode)

Debugging Workflow

  1. Implement: Set up your analytics with the test token
  2. Trigger: Generate events on your site or application
  3. Validate: Check the Recent Events view to confirm proper tracking
  4. Review: Verify event properties and intended destinations
  5. Go Live: Switch to your live token once everything is working correctly

Benefits

  • Debug without affecting production data
  • Safe testing environment
  • Full visibility into event processing
  • Real-time validation
  • Verify destination configurations

Next Steps

Once you've completed testing:

  1. Replace the test token with your live token
  2. Verify that events are being sent to their intended destinations
  3. Monitor your live events to ensure everything continues working as expected

Common Debugging Scenarios

Missing Event in the Ours Platform

  • Cause: The script is not properly installed or your trigger is not sending the event to Ours Privacy.
  • Solution: Check your GTM setup or custom track code setup to make sure Ours Privacy is loaded and sending the event.

Incorrect User Properties

  • Cause: User properties are not being set or formatted correctly.
  • Solution: Ensure the ours('track', 'Event Name', {color: 'red'}, {email: '[email protected]' }) function includes the correct user properties. See User Properties Overview.

Event Not Forwarded to Destinations

  • Cause: Destination configuration issues, or the event name is missing from the allow list.
  • Solution: Verify destination setup and check custom mapper rules in Data Mapping.

Best Practices for Tracking and Debugging

  1. Use the Test Token:
    • Debugging with a test token helps avoid cluttering production data.
  2. Add Events to Allowed Event List Early:
    • Add events to your Event Allowlist before tracking them.
  3. Inspect Events Regularly:
    • Use the Recent Events dashboard in the Ours app to monitor event flow and catch issues early.
  4. Validate Destinations:
    • Test each destination’s setup to ensure events are formatted and sent correctly.
  5. Leverage Custom Mappers.

Updated 6 days ago