Trackingplan | Data Validation

With Trackingplan, you can be automatically notified whenever your properties, events, and user acquisition data don’t conform to the values you have specified.

Data validation techniques serve as a proactive mechanism designed to intercept and rectify issues before errors compromise the integrity of your data.

Here are some of the data validation mechanisms that Trackingplan supports to ensure your data always arrives to your specifications and, in case they don’t notify you so you can fix it in record time.

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Data Validation techniques supported by Trackingplan:

Enums

Enums allow you to specify in advance the values you expect for a property to be notified every time it receives a value that does not conform to your list of predefined constants.

Just as Trackingplan automatically learns about the type and frequency constraints associated with each of your properties, its algorithm is also able to automatically infer enums based on your data.

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Enums are inferred daily by Trackingplan based on the property values that have been received recently and their likeness to correspond to a fixed set of values. Note that, if needed, you can disable this process in Customize Warnings for specific events or your whole plan in Settings.

Yet, to write Enums for a property manually, click on its type field and select Enum in the drop-down menu.

If this is the first time creating an Enum, select Create New Enum. Otherwise, you can reuse one of your existing ones, cloning it directly or editing it for this specific property.

In the next panel, you can name your new Enum and write the corresponding values. To help you with this, you can also autocomplete your Enum with the values that Trackingplan has observed in the last 30 days within that property.

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Doing this will automatically show you all the values detected for this property in the last 30 days, but you can also check that all the values are correct and, in case they are not, delete them. Moreover, you can also ignore cases and diacritics to ensure the server will recognize any possible character or accent variations.

Once you are happy with it, click on Create New Enum. The new Enum will now appear in the drop-down menu. Select it and click on Use on this property.

All set! From now on, Trackingplan will be checking that all the values in this property match the specified Enum.

If it detects a value that is not within this list of predefined constants, Trackingplan will automatically send you a warning.

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For both enums manually added or automatically learned by Trackingplan, you'll always have the option to edit them by adding or removing values to your lists at any time.

Use case Examples

For example, let's say Trackingplan infers and Enum after seeing a clear pattern that enumerates all the markets you're currently operating in.

If someday you expand into another market, Trackingplan will automatically detect it and inform you of that change, allowing you to effortlessly add it as another value to that enums list.

Similarly, the same would happen with the values within the currency property, where we can always find an enumerated list of the currencies used in your online stores.

If you start accepting a new currency, Trackingplan will automatically detect this new currency and inform you, allowing you to update that enum in all the events using the currency property accordingly. On the other hand, if no new currency has been accepted and the new value detected is being sent erroneously, Trackingplan will help you promptly identify and address it as an issue.

RegEx (Regular expressions)

This feature allows you to specify a regular expression pattern (Regex) to which all the values seen for a property must conform, ensuring strict and consistent data validation.

The process of setting up Regex for a property is very similar to the one used for Enums. However, we also know that manually creating regular expressions can be a challenging task, especially for users who may not have prior experience, making it difficult for them to enforce strict validation rules on their data.

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To simplify this process, we offer the ability to automatically generate regex patterns. This allows users to create precise and robust validations without needing to write complex patterns manually.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to setting up a regex with Trackingplan:

Firstly, on the property you’d like to add a Regular Expression, click on its type field and select Regex from the drop-down menu.

Then, click on Pick a Regular Expression. If this is your first time creating a regular expression, select Create New Regex. Otherwise, you can reuse one of your existing ones, cloning it directly or editing it for this specific property.

Here’s where the magic happens. Just click on “Autocomplete this Regex” to automatically generate a regex pattern based on the values observed for this specific property. Our system will also suggest a name for your regex, eliminating the need to come up with one.

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By doing this, your data will not be processed through AI, ensuring your information remains private and secure.

It’s time to review and fine-tune. All the values automatically generated will be placed directly within the playground, allowing you to manually add more if needed.
Once you are happy with it, click on “Create New Regex”. From this point on, Trackingplan will be checking that all the values for these properties match the specified regular expression. If a value does not conform with the pattern you have specified, the dashboard will automatically show you a warning.

On the other way around, if you prefer to create your Regex manually, just name your new regular expression (e.g.: language_regex) and write the corresponding pattern. You can also insert test values to confirm that your regular expression pattern will work as you expect. Once you are happy with it, click on Create New Regex.

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Need help validating and testing your regex patterns? Check our regex tester tool to ensure your regular expressions are error-free.

Moreover, for Regexes, you can also ignore cases, diacritics, or both to prevent in advance any situation where the server would recognize it as an implementation issue.

Conflict Detection in RegEx and Enums

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Pro tip: For Enums and RegEx errors, click on “Show more invalid values” to easily identify problematic values and resolve conflicts more efficiently.

Function Validations

This feature allows you to set up any complex validation at track level and will warn you every time any of your properties don’t conform to the function provided to validate an event (e.g: cross-conditions like validating that all products logged in a cart carry a valid product_sku given the page section).

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To set up custom validation functions, please contact support@trackingplan.com and we will help.

Campaign Validations

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Trackingplan helps you ensure consistency and accuracy in the naming conventions used across your campaigns, mediums, and sources by detecting and highlighting discrepancies, such as duplicate or improperly formatted names, that may compromise data quality and campaign attribution.

For it, Trackingplan enables you to create customized naming convention rules for your UTMs to seamlessly validate that your campaigns consistently adhere to your established naming standards.

With them, any element—whether it's a campaign name, medium, or source—that breaches the rules will be highlighted, providing you with instant visibility into where corrections are needed.

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Think of it as a “spellchecker” for your campaign data that visually pinpoints which elements are not meeting the required standards.

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For more information about how to create or leverage our pre-configured rules, refer to our Naming Conventions Monitoring section.

Creating Rules for UTM Naming Conventions

Maintaining proper UTM naming conventions is essential for preventing attribution errors that could disrupt the accuracy of your marketing performance metrics. That’s why having precise and consistent UTM naming conventions is crucial for reliable attribution.

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Learn more about best tracking practices to effectively monitor your UTM naming conventions here.

Let’s explore some practical use cases with some real-world examples:

Enforce Numeric Values for the UTM Source affiliate

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Setting up a rule to trigger an alert if the source is set to affiliate, but the campaign name contains letters or any other non-numeric values.

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Consistent and valid UTM parameters reduce attribution errors, helping you accurately calculate the return on ad spend (ROAS), and determine the true cost per acquisition (CPA). For more help, our UTM Builder Tool can guide you in creating structured and error-free UTM parameters.

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