As a heavy GTM user, you have probably noticed some changes lately in the interface with the arrival of a new functionality called workspace. Since the release of GTM v2, it is the biggest change to the tool. Put back into broader context, it gives us two indications:
- Google keeps investing in the platform
- Google professionals use GTM as a TMS tool
Indeed, with the 360 release, Google has taken a clear market direction in offering a complete business suite to compete with Adobe and other fully integrated solutions. Therefore, GTM also underwent a facelift and upgrade.
What has changed ? Visual and new functionality
First changes are visual. You probably also noticed the following ones:
- Triggers - no longer labelled with color but with icons referring to the type of trigger used
- Variables - checkboxes have disappeared and built in variables are automatically listed
- Slider - when creating a new tag/trigger/variable, a slider pops up from the right which lets you configure them
The eyecatcher in this update is the upgrade and integration of workspaces.
Workspace is a feature that will let you:
- Improve workflows management
- Give you more control on changes to be published
- Enhance collaboration between different parties involved on a project
We have already tested workspaces at Semetis and they are really handy.
What does it change?
Imagine you are busy with preparing a new website release including a totally new analytics configuration with tons of tags and variables. All the tags are ready and configured in your container draft as release is foreseen in the coming days but your client asks you to urgently publish a new Facebook pixel to start remarketing. Before workspace, all changes would have to be published at the same time meaning that Facebook pixel would have need to wait the release to be completed.
Workspaces will help you avoid these stressful situations. Workspaces allows you to work on a specific GTM project (that you can name as you wish) – while your colleagues or other people having access to GTM can work on a separate workspace at the same time. It means you will be able to test, debug and publish different workspaces independently and merge them at the end or at a later point in the future. Also, when a workspace is published and a new version of your container is created, other workspaces will receive a notification that a new/latest version has been published.
Note that Google Tag Manager 360 customers will be able to create unlimited workspaces while free Google Tag Manager users will be limited to three concurrent workspaces.
If you want more details on workspace configuration, I invite you reading the always thorough and useful guide built by our friends Simo Ahava(add link) and Lunametrics (add link).
Happy Tagging !
