Tech Note: Count Track Events Received For A Visitor As Time In Application setting FAQs

UPDATE: 

This Tech Note is no longer being updated and the information has been incorporated into this article: Time on  page and app calculations.

This Tech Note will answer frequently asked questions about the setting "Count Track Events Received For A Visitor As Time In Application setting"

Where is this setting? 

This setting is only available to Pendo Admins. Go to Settings > Subscription Settings > View App Details > App Details > “Count Track Events Received For A Visitor As Time In Application”

What level of control do I have for this setting?

This setting is configured at the application level. This allows for customization across different applications within the same subscription.  Once enabled for an application, it applies to all track events received for that application. It is not possible to enable this for only some track events and not others. It must be either enabled or disabled for all track events for a specific application.

What does it mean to have it enabled?

By default, this setting is disabled, and track events do not count towards time on application (aka time on site) calculations. If enabled, track events will count towards time on application calculations. This is typically more of a consideration when sending server side track events to Pendo, as explained here.

How is "time on application" measured for Track Events? How is that different from how "time on application" is measured for other events?

“Time on application” (aka time on site) is measured by 60 second buckets of time. If an event happens in a 60 second bucket of time, that counts as 1 minute. If two events happen in the same 60 second bucket of time, that still counts as 1 minute. Learn more here: How is Site & Page Interaction Calculated? 

For server side track events, a timestamp must be included, and Pendo looks at which 60 second bucket of time that track event falls into. See the below image for an example scenario:

This visitor had 3 events:

• A page load at 7:45 AM
• A track event at 7:45 AM (Count Track Events Received For A Visitor As Time in Application = enabled)
• A guide seen event at 4:05 PM

Since these are the only three events the visitor had, and they occurred in 2 separate 60 second buckets of time, that counts as 2 minutes of time on application.

Is this setting retroactive? 

No, this setting is not retroactive. Only track events received while this setting is enabled will count towards time on application. Historical track events will not be counted towards time on application.  This same logic applies if the setting is disabled.

Will enabling this setting impact metrics such as WAU/DAU/MAU?
Yes, enabling the setting 'Count Track Events Received For a Visitor as Time In Application' will also impact metrics such as WAU/DAU/MAU. 

Will enabling this setting create visitors in Pendo for users whose only interaction with the application was instrumented via track events?

Technically, those visitor records already exist in Pendo. See this link here: Community post. They just haven't been easily visible and have not impacted any metrics related to application usage, including your monthly active users, which impacts billing.

So for any visitors that only have track events coming into Pendo...

• If "Count Track Events...as Time in App" is enabled, they will count towards your monthly active users metric
• If "Count Track Events...as Time in App" is NOT enabled, they will not count towards your monthly active users metric.