Getting set up with Amplitude Data

Amplitude Data provides a complete set of tools for the entire lifecycle of your data, from planning and instrumentation to maintenance and deprecation. The product is flexible enough to accommodate various workflows, so you can choose which tools you need.

Get data into Amplitude

Amplitude supports several methods for ingesting data. You can collect data from your app using SDKs.

Choose an ingestion method

Consider these factors when deciding which ingestion method works best for your organization.

Use Amplitude SDKs

Amplitude SDKs are a good way to integrate if you're getting started with analytics. You can use Ampli to keep your instrumentation clean from the start while retaining the flexibility to send data to various destinations later.

When using Amplitude SDKs, decide whether to send events from front-end clients or back-end servers:

• Client-side tracking: Add client-side SDKs to your web and mobile apps. This method can be more direct because you can use default event tracking and capture both client-side and server-side interactions with your application. However, events that span all your clients require deployment changes across all your apps. On mobile, updates can take time depending on how long it takes your customers to update their apps.
• Server-side tracking: Send events directly from your servers to Amplitude. For example, when tracking an order completion, send the event from the back-end server that processes the order. This centralized approach is generally the most reliable because a single place in your control sends the events. You also don't have to wait for customers to update their app version.

Amplitude recommends server-side tracking for events that require high precision and client-side tracking for everything else.

Use cloud storage, warehouses, and event streaming

If you already have a reliable data source, connecting to that source can be the fastest way to get started with Amplitude. Customers often use these methods to connect with current sources of truth and use Amplitude's self-serve capabilities to expand data access across their company.

You can use Amplitude's data management capabilities even when you connect through an existing source.

What to track

Identifying and planning the events and properties you want to track is essential to maximizing your data. A solid tracking plan helps you answer business questions and prevents gaps in your analyses.

Use these resources to help decide what to track:

• To get started quickly, read about what events you need. That article recommends events and properties commonly tracked in each industry.
• Refer to the data planning playbook for a deeper understanding of creating a taxonomy from scratch.
• If you've identified events and properties to track and want to get them into Amplitude, refer to creating your tracking plan.

Best practices

These practices help ensure good results both initially and as you scale with Amplitude Data.

Establish a naming convention

Simple, self-explanatory names that follow a consistent convention make your plan understandable across your organization. Consistent naming also prevents data quality issues. Two events with different capitalizations, such as Song Played and song played, appear as two separate events.

Set your naming convention in settings, and Amplitude Data prompts anyone who creates events to follow that convention.

Use a separate environment for testing

Keep your data clean by using separate projects for development and production. Separate projects let you test your implementation without affecting your final business reports. They're also a good place to try data management tools before applying them to production data. Refer to creating a project in Amplitude.