25 th Bled eConference eDependability: Reliable and Trustworthy eStructures, eProcesses, eOperations and eServices for the Future June 17, 2012 – June 20, 2012; Bled, Slovenia Developing a Framework for Web Analytics Verena Hausmann Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany verena.hausmann@uni-koblenz.de Susan P. Williams Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany susan.williams@uni-koblenz.de Petra Schubert Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany petra.schubert@uni-koblenz.de Abstract Gathering and analysing data about the usage of websites can assist in understanding customer behaviour, improving services and potentially increasing profit. However, changing technologies and evolving web analytics methods and processes present a challenge to organisations embarking on web analytics projects. In this paper we examine current theory and practice in the field of Web Analytics (WA) to identify methods and techniques, issues and challenges. Our analysis identifies the need to move from a data-centric view of WA towards a more user- and business-focused view. We propose a framework for establishing sustainable WA programmes, which widens the focus of the WA process to fully account for business requirements and to focus attention on achieving actionable outcomes. Keywords: Web Usage Analysis, Web Analytics Framework, Process Cycle 1 Background and Motivation Identifying who uses a website and how it is used has been of interest to website owners since Tim Berners-Lee developed the first web browser in 1990 (Berners-Lee 1989; Berners-Lee & Fischetti 2000; Connolly 2000; CERN 2008). The influence of the online channel now eclipses all other media (Lovett et al. 2009) and interest in monitoring website usage and user activities has intensified. This has led to significant developments in the field of Web Analytics (WA), defined as the: 127