Slides from a talk given by TeachStreet CTO Daryn Nakhuda at Mongo Seattle, July 27, 2010. #mongoseattle

1. Real Value in Real Time
MongoDB-based Analytics at TeachStreet
Daryn Nakhuda
Chief Technology Officer
TeachStreet.com
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2. TeachStreet
A marketplace for learning
We help people find classes and teachers
We help teachers get more students
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 2
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3. TeachStreet
Based in Seattle
7 Full-time employees - 50% dev/engineering
Launched in April 2008
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 3
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4. Tech Stack
Handful of physical servers
Ruby on Rails
Linux, Nginx, Mongrel, PostgreSQL, Sphinx
MongoDB (MongoMapper, because we <3 jnunemaker)
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 4
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5. Product
Profile Page
Class Listing and Session Pages
Phone tracking, payment processing, marketing tools, etc.
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
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6. The Problem
People love the idea, but they have no idea if
it is really working for them.
“I’ve never once been contacted by a student who found me on TeachStreet”
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 6
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7. June 2009
The site is working for you, really!
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
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8. Teacher Dashboard (v1)
Quick Snapshot of Activity
Built on Google Analytics API
Real Value in Real Time
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9. Teacher Dashboard (v1)
PROS
• Provided insight into a former void
• Easy to understand
• Quickly implemented, no IT impact
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10. Teacher Dashboard (v1)
CONS
• Cumulative data only
• No date filters / trending information
• Not real-time
• URL-based, fragile
• “Operationally-Annoying”
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 10
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11. May 2010
That’ll be $3 please
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 11
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12. Metrics Dashboard v2
• Track conversions as well as traffic
• Real-time
• Date-filters / Trends
• Keep it simple and easy to use
• Flexible
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Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 12
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13. Page Events
‘page_events’ collection
• Views to profile, listing & session pages
• Can also be used for homepage, search,
featured placements, etc.
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 13
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14. Lead Events
‘lead_events’ collection
• Messages
• Phone Calls
• URL Clicks
• Enrollments
• More Information / Affiliates
These are the things people will ‘do the math’ with
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
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15. Tracking Models
EventAttributes
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16. Tracking Models
PageEvent
PageViewEvent
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17. Sample Page Event
{ "_id" : ObjectId("4bbbed8c4e40d3593b000001"),
"updated_at" : "Tue Apr 06 2010 19:27:24 GMT-0700
(PDT)", "current_user_id" : null,
"parent_teacher_id" : null, "listing_session_id" :
null, "sub_page" : "main", "page_type" : "User",
"session_id" : "747469eb432e27fc4a678a8805563dbf",
"url" : "http://www.teachstreet.com/teacher/diablo-k9-
academy", "subdomain" : null, "listing_id" : null,
"teacher_id" : 18467, "_type" : "PageViewEvent",
"count" : 1, "created_at" : "Tue Apr 06 2010 19:27:24
GMT-0700 (PDT)" }
Real Value in Real Time
Mongo Seattle - July 2010
Daryn Nakhuda, TeachStreet.com 17
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18. Tracking Models
LeadEvent
CallEvent
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19. Sample Lead Event
{ "_id" : ObjectId("4bbbf00a3352585b29000003"),
"updated_at" : "Tue Apr 06 2010 19:38:02 GMT-0700
(PDT)", "parent_teacher_id" : 116845,
"current_user_id" : null, "listing_session_id" :
194028, "session_id" :
"4a2146ae80971b47ec6acd86827506f9", "url" : "http://
www.teachstreet.com/redirect?
source_id=cl-87e9otqv6o&url=http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.wyzant.com%2Ftutorprofile3480833",
"subdomain" : null, "listing_id" : 153395,
"teacher_id" : 119644, "_type" : "ClickThroughEvent",
"count" : 1, "source_type" : "ListingSession",
"created_at" : "Tue Apr 06 2010 19:38:02 GMT-0700
(PDT)" }
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20. How we track
JavaScript - for page actions, to filter robots
Or, just directly to the logger
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21. Reporting
Dashboard Presenters:
• Used from web as well as weekly activity emails
• Aggregate functions
• Map/Reduce queries
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22. Some Presenter Code
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23. Real Value in Real Time
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24. Metrics Dashboard (v2)
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25. Weekly Summary Email
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26. Q &A
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27. Thanks!
If you like what you’ve seen, do me a favor:
Find great local and online
<a href=”http://www.teachstreet.com/”>Classes</a>
on TeachStreet
Email: daryn@teachstreet.com
Twitter: @daryn
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