Digital Experience
Real user monitoring
The JavaScript agent is injected automatically into web server responses by OneAgent, or added manually for CDN-hosted and some single-page apps. It captures user actions (clicks, page loads, XHR/fetch calls) and produces performance metrics - Speed Index, Visually complete, DOM interactive, load event - plus errors, geolocation, and Apdex. Mobile apps use the Android/iOS SDK and report similar action-level data. Session Replay records sessions with configurable masking of personal data; masked fields are the standard trap answer for privacy questions.
Synthetic monitoring
Three monitor types: browser clickpath (multi-step journey), single-URL browser (one page, performance baseline), and HTTP monitor (request-level availability without a browser). Monitors run from public locations or private synthetic locations hosted on ActiveGate inside your network - the correct answer when a site is not internet-reachable. Synthetic data is separate from RUM data and does not describe real users.
Naming and segmentation
User action naming rules collapse dynamic XHR endpoints so actions remain analysable; application detection rules decide which domains belong to which application. Conversion goals track business outcomes; key user actions and Apdex thresholds shape the application's score.
Worked rule of thumb
Ask do we have the front end? If the code can carry the JavaScript agent, use RUM and read real user data. If the site is a third-party product, behind login with no instrumentation, or must be monitored from outside before go-live, use synthetic. If the site is internal-only, use a private synthetic location on an ActiveGate.
Trap: a low Apdex on a synthetic monitor says nothing about satisfaction of real users - different data source, different question.