Overview
Pre-Audit Actions allow an Audit to be configured with a username and password to access protected content. Pre-Audit Actions force the Audit to log into the website before visiting any pages, including the starting page(s) of the Audit. Configuring Pre-Audit Actions is similar to configuring Actions in Audits or Journeys.
Most likely you will want to take these steps and create an Action Set so that you can reuse this login process across other Audits. You can save your current steps to a new action set or use an existing action set by adding a step and selecting Action Type - Action Set.
Simulating the Login Process
Follow these instructions to add Pre-Audit Actions for an Audit. Since there are many ways to implement logins (basic authentication, two-factor authentication, VPN, and more), these instructions are very general (see Create or Edit Journey for more details on setting up Actions):
Create a new Audit and fill out the URL and necessary information, click on the Pre-Audit Actions tab.
After you click on Pre-Audit Actions, it allows you to add action steps.
Configure the steps to perform the login (see the Creating Journeys article).
The steps to perform a login are called Actions and they are configured just the same as any other Actions in Audits or Journeys.
The first Action for setting up login is always NavTo. Enter the URL of the page where the login functionality is.
Example Configurations
Example 1: Username and Password
A common login process involves a form with username and password fields and a submit button. A typical Pre-Audit Action configuration would look like the following, based on the page found at http://jpstyle.us/user/login:
Step 1: access the login page
Type: Navigate To
Step 2: type in the username
Type: Input
Value = student
Identifier = edit-name
Step 3: type in the password
Type: Masked Input
Value = trainme
Identifier = edit-pass
Note: Each Masked Input value is stored using industry-standard AES encryption to prevent anyone from viewing it, including ObservePoint employees, even if they have access to ObservePoint's database where it is stored.
Step 4: Click the submit button
Type: Click
Identifier = edit-submit