Analytics event schema broken: pre-release and first 30 minutes checklists

Tracking events change shape and downstream dashboards or experiments break.

The pre-release checklist maps each item to a test class from the incident page. The first-30-minutes checklist covers detection, containment, the rollback decision and customer communication.

7 pre-release items · 7 first-30-minutes items · verified 2026-10-21

Pre-release checklist

PR-01Run the capture script integration suite against every snippet version still installed on client sites, not only the upcoming one. integration
PR-02Log a custom event with three properties through the new capture script in staging and confirm the stored event holds all three properties. integration
PR-03Define a contract for each tracked event with its exact name and property keys and types, and fail the build when a release changes any of them. contract
PR-04Compare the event names in a data export from staging with the tracking plan and fail the release when any name differs. contract
PR-05Send a test event with a fixed name and property set to production every hour and alert when it arrives with a different name or missing properties. synthetic
PR-06Send the hourly test event through each destination type in use, including both the newer actions destination and the legacy classic destination. synthetic
PR-07Send a test event with a fixed name every hour and alert when the schema lists it under any other name. synthetic

First 30 minutes

FM-01Compare the latest stored events with the tracking plan and record which names or properties changed and from what time.
FM-02Check which destinations show the fault to tell an own script release apart from a destination integration change.
FM-03If the own script release dropped properties, roll back the script and snippet to the prior working version.
FM-04If the fault sits in a third-party destination, open a ticket with that vendor and attach examples of the changed events.
FM-05Decide whether to add a short-term event transformation that maps changed names back, and log it so it can be removed after the data merge.
FM-06Warn dashboard and experiment owners that conversions, funnels and revenue attribution for the window may read low.
FM-07Tell customers the exact affected window and whether data exports from that window must be pulled again.

Download the checklist

Pre-release checklist (Markdown)1.5 KB · v1.0.0
First 30 minutes checklist (Markdown)1.2 KB · v1.0.0

Only in this checklist

PR-01 is the only item among 6 published checklists in this group that relies on integration tests: Run the capture script integration suite against every snippet version still installed on client sites, not only the upcoming one.

Questions

What should be checked before a release to prevent Analytics event schema broken?

7 pre-release items, PR-01 to PR-07. PR-01: Run the capture script integration suite against every snippet version still installed on client sites, not only the upcoming one.

Is there a rollback plan for Analytics event schema broken?

The first-30-minutes checklist has 7 items. FM-01: Compare the latest stored events with the tracking plan and record which names or properties changed and from what time.

What should a team do in the first 30 minutes after Analytics event schema broken is detected?

The first-30-minutes checklist has 7 items. FM-01: Compare the latest stored events with the tracking plan and record which names or properties changed and from what time.

Is a Analytics event schema broken checklist still needed if deployment is automated?

Yes. Automation runs the steps; the checklist names what the tests must cover: integration tests, contract tests and synthetic monitoring.

Which pipeline stages does the Analytics event schema broken checklist cover?

The pre-release items map to the pre-deploy, pre-merge and post-deploy stages.

In what formats can the Analytics event schema broken checklist be downloaded?

Both checklists download as Markdown files: /downloads/analytics-event-schema-broken-pre-release.md and /downloads/analytics-event-schema-broken-first-30-minutes.md, licensed CC BY 4.0.