# Getting started with evoOrigin

> Get evoOrigin running: check session capture, switch on visit logging and lead attribution, and trigger the event from your own extension.

# Getting started with evoOrigin

## Before you start

After installing the package, session capture already works. Database logging does not: you have to turn it on. Follow these steps in order and stop where you already have what you need.

## 1. Check session capture

1. Open a page on your site with parameters added to the URL, for example `?utm_source=test&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=launch`.
2. Browse the site. The system plugin stores the origin in the Joomla session under the key `evo_origin` (you can change it in the plugin settings).

To avoid capturing on requests that are not pages, the plugin skips the administrator, non-GET requests, non-HTML requests, `com_ajax`, AJAX requests and user agents containing "bot", "crawl" or "spider".

Another extension can read that value from the session. The exact structure is in the [reference](https://evoaddons.com/en/documentation/evoorigin-reference).

## 2. Turn on visit logging (level 1)

1. Go to *Components → evoOrigin* and open the options (*Options* button).
2. On the *Visit log (level 1)* tab, set *Log visits* to Yes.
3. Review *How to store the IP* (truncated by default) and *Detail retention (days)* (90 by default).
4. Save.

Each session with an origin creates one row. You will see them under *Components → evoOrigin → Visits*. If you want to know what is stored and for how long, read [Data it handles](https://evoaddons.com/en/documentation/evoorigin-data) before enabling this in production.

## 3. Log only with consent (optional)

If your site has a cookie banner:

1. On the *Consent* tab, turn on *Log only with consent*.
2. Fill in *Banner cookie* with the name of the cookie where your banner stores the visitor's choice.
3. Fill in *Value meaning "accepted"*. If you leave it empty, it is enough for the cookie to exist and not be empty.

If you require consent and do not name the cookie, evoOrigin logs no visits and the panel shows a warning.

## 4. Turn on lead attribution (level 2)

1. On the *Lead attribution (level 2)* tab, set *Store lead attribution* to Yes.
2. Set *Summary retention (months since the last interaction)*. The default is 24.
3. Ask the extension that creates your leads to trigger the `onEvooriginLead` event. Example:

```
use Joomla\CMS\Factory;
use Joomla\Event\Event;

Factory::getApplication()->getDispatcher()->dispatch(
    'onEvooriginLead',
    new Event('onEvooriginLead', ['refType' => 'offer', 'refId' => (string) $offerId])
);
```

evoOrigin stores a summary with the first origin, the last origin and the date of each, tied to that reference. If level 2 is off or the session has no origin, the event does nothing.

## 5. Look at the results

- *Statistics*: visits by month, source, medium and campaign.
- *Visits*: the detail of the visits still kept.
- *Lead attribution*: one summary per lead.

## What to do next

- Tune each option with the [settings](https://evoaddons.com/en/documentation/evoorigin-settings) page.
- If you query the data from other systems, see the [reference](https://evoaddons.com/en/documentation/evoorigin-reference) for the REST API and the MCP tools.

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https://evoaddons.com/en/documentation/evoorigin-first-steps