When analytics teams make updates to their digital analytics implementations, they are normally done in batches. A significant amount of work goes into adding new business requirements, assigning new variables, etc. Once there is enough new work done to be deployed, a new “build” is deployed. Apollo leverages this practice by allowing you to create an unlimited number of deployment builds. Each Apollo build allows you to update one or more of the core implementation elements (tag management configuration, analytics tool variables, data layer documentation).
To create a new build, click the Deploy New Build button within the Deploy - Builds module. This will present a screen that allows you to name the build and choose which elements you wish to deploy. As noted above, the three items that can be deployed include:
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Tag Manager - Configures or updates an existing tag management configuration
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Data Destination - Configures the variables in the analytics tool (Adobe Analytics only)
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Data Layer Docs - Shares the data layer and tagging specifications with a tagging tool (e.g. GitHub)
In some cases, all three options will not be available. For example, within tag management systems, it is a best practice to manage the promotion of items from development to staging directly within the tag management system, so Apollo will only allow the configuration of tag management in the development environment. Data layer docs will only deploy to development environments as well.
Prior to any build, you must have a default connection selected. In order to designate a default connection, navigate to property settings, click the connection dropdown, and click "Add Another Connection".
Once you are ready to deploy, click the Deploy Build button which will kick off the deployment processes. As each process is initiated, Apollo will return a validation message:
Apollo will show you what has been deployed and to which environment in the Builds table:
You can view the items that have been created, changed or unchanged with each build by clicking the eye icon inline with the build:
In the modal that appears, you'll see the item type, action that occurred and the Item Name, Ecosystem, and Timestamp for which this action occurred.
If you see an error message when trying to deploy a build, there may be some Apollo settings that are misconfigured:
In this case, revisit the settings module and verify that all of your connections are working.