Two tables growing in size related to Audience Targeting

Issue

• Why are these particular tables increasing in size?
  
  CT_ANALYTICS_ANALYTICSEVENT 
  CT_ANALYTICS_ANALYTICSREFERRER

Environment

• DXP 7.2    DXP 7.1

Resolution

• Firstly, this is an intended behaviour related to Audience Targeting and it can be modified
  
  Table 1.
  

  ct_analytics_analyticsevent 

  This table keeps track of many of the actions that a user can make in a portal, e.g. navigating through pages or viewing web content articles etc. The data captured can potentially cause the database to grow very rapidly for even a moderately used portal.
  
  Table 2.
  

  ct_analytics_analyticsreferrer

  This table tracks the object (normally a page) that referred the user to that action.
  
  If we wish to reduce/clear the amount of data being stored, there is a mechanism for this.
  We can set a more frequent interval for cleanup.
  
  Go to: Control Panel > Configuration > System Settings > Audience Targeting
  
  
• For these 3 sub-categories >>
  
  
  • Audience Targeting Anonymous User Service
  • Audience Targeting Service
  • Audience Targeting Analytics Service 
    
    Adjust these settings in each sub-category >>
     
    • Check Interval = enter numerical value
    • Check Time Unit = enter unit of time
    • Max Age = enter numerical value
    • Max Age Time Unit = enter unit of time

Here is a short test to demonstrate:

Environment: DXP 7.1 bundle + MySQL 5.7 + Audience Targeting 3.0.0

Steps Taken
1. Verify initial CT_ANALYTICS_ANALYTICSEVENT table size [test case - 16Kb]
2. Create a Public Page "Test Page"
3. Click 20 times between Welcome Page and Test Page
4. Observe current CT_ANALYTICS_ANALYTICSEVENT table size [test case - 80Kb]
5. Control Panel > Configuration > System Settings > Audience Targeting

For these 3 sub-categories >

• Audience Targeting Anonymous User Service
• Audience Targeting Service
• Audience Targeting Analytics Service 

Change the following settings to these test values:

DISCLAIMER 
The value of 1 (one) MINUTE (below) is only used here for demonstration purposes.
Please adjust this value to suit your own system needs.

• Check Interval = 1
• Check Time Unit = MINUTE
• Max Age = 1
• Max Age Time Unit = MINUTE

6. Wait over 1 minute then recheck the size of the CT_ANALYTICS_ANALYTICSEVENT table

Result: Table size returns to [test case - 16Kb] 

Additional Information

• Audience Targeting System Settings describes in more detail the available settings