Cookie policy

Welcome to Housemark's cookie policy

Our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer’s hard drive.

We use the following cookies:

  • Strictly necessary cookies. These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart or make use of e-billing services.
  • Analytical/performance cookies. They allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works, for example, by ensuring that users are finding what they are looking for easily.
  • Functionality cookies. These are used to recognise you when you return to our website. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region).
  • Targeting cookies. These cookies record your visit to our website, the pages you have visited and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make our website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

You can find more information about the individual cookies we use and the purposes for which we use them in the table below:

Provider Name Purpose Duration
Google Analytics __utma Used to distinguish users and sessions. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utma cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. 2 years from set/ update.
Google Analytics __utmb Used to determine new sessions/visits. The cookie is created when the javascript library executes and no existing __utmb cookies exists. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to Google Analytics. 30 minutes from set/ update.
Google Analytics __utmc Not used in ga.js. Set for interoperability with urchin.js. Historically, this cookie operated in conjunction with the __utmb cookie to determine whether the user was in a new session/visit. End of browser session
Google Analytics __utmv This cookie is not normally present in a default configuration of the tracking code. The __utmvcookie passes the information provided via the _setVar() method, which you use to create a custom user segment. This string is then passed to the Analytics servers in the GIF request URL via the utmccparameter. This cookie is only written if you have added the_setVar() method for the tracking code on your website page. 2 years from set/ update.
Google Analytics __utmz This cookie stores the type of referral used by the visitor to reach pwc.com/gx, whether via a direct method, a referring link, a website search, or a campaign such as an ad or an email link. It is used to calculate search engine traffic, ad campaigns and page navigation within pwc.com/gx. The cookie is updated with each page view to pwc.com/gx. 6 months from set/ update.
Google Analytics __utmt Used to throttle request rate. 10 minutes
Google Analytics _ga This cookie is typically written to the browser upon the first visit. If the cookie has been deleted by the browser operator, and the browser subsequently visits strategyand.pwc.com, a new __utma cookie is written with a different unique ID. In most cases, this cookie is used to determine unique visitors to strategyand.pwc.com and it is updated with each page view. Additionally, this cookie is provided with a unique ID that Google Analytics uses to ensure both the validity and accessibility of the cookie as an extra security measure. 2 years from set/ update.
ClickDimensions cuvid This cookie is typically written to the browser upon the first visit to the site from that web browser. If the cookie has been deleted by the browser operator, and the browser subsequently visits the site, a new __cuid cookie is written with a different visitor unique ID. This cookie is used to determine unique visitors to the site and it is updated with each page view. Additionally, this cookie is provided with a unique ID that the application uses to ensure both the validity and accessibility of the cookie as an extra security measure. 2 years from   set/update
ClickDimensions cusid This cookie is used to establish and continue a user session with the site. When a user views a page on the site, the script code attempts to update this cookie. If it does not find the cookie, a new one is written and a new session is established. Each time a user visits a different page on the site, this cookie is updated to expire in 30 minutes, thus continuing a single session for as long as user activity continues within 30-minute intervals. This cookie expires when a user pauses on a page on the site for longer than 30 minutes. 30 minutes from set/ update
ClickDimensions cuvon Used to signal the last time a visitor viewed a page. 30 minutes from set/ update
New Relic JSESSIONID The JSESSIONID cookie is used to store a session identifier so that we can monitor session counts for an application. End of browser session

 

Hotjar cookies:

_hjClosedSurveyInvites Hotjar cookie that is set once a user interacts with an External Link Survey invitation modal. It is used to ensure that the same invite does not reappear if it has already been shown. 365 days from set/update  
_hjDonePolls Hotjar cookie that is set once a user completes a survey using the On-site Survey widget. It is used to ensure that the same survey does not reappear if it has already been filled in. 365 days from set/update  
_hjMinimizedPolls Hotjar cookie that is set once a user minimizes an On-site Survey widget. It is used to ensure that the widget stays minimized when the user navigates through your site. 365 days from set/update  
_hjShownFeedbackMessage Hotjar cookie that is set when a user minimizes or completes Incoming Feedback. This is done so that the Incoming Feedback will load as minimized immediately if the user navigates to another page where it is set to show. 365 days from set/update  
_hjSessionTooLarge Causes Hotjar to stop collecting data if a session becomes too large. This is determined automatically by a signal from the WebSocket server if the session size exceeds the limit. End of browser session  
_hjid Hotjar cookie that is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the Hotjar User ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID. 365 days from set/update  
_hjRecordingLastActivity This should be found in Session storage (as opposed to cookies). This gets updated when a user recording starts and when data is sent through the WebSocket (the user performs an action that Hotjar records). End of browser session  
_hjTLDTest When the Hotjar script executes we try to determine the most generic cookie path we should use, instead of the page hostname. This is done so that cookies can be shared across subdomains (where applicable). To determine this, we try to store the _hjTLDTest cookie for different URL substring alternatives until it fails. After this check, the cookie is removed. End of browser session  
_hjUserAttributesHash User Attributes sent through the Hotjar Identify API are cached for the duration of the session in order to know when an attribute has changed and needs to be updated. End of browser session  
_hjCachedUserAttributes This cookie stores User Attributes which are sent through the Hotjar Identify API, whenever the user is not in the sample. Collected attributes will only be saved to Hotjar servers if the user interacts with a Hotjar Feedback tool, but the cookie will be used regardless of whether a Feedback tool is present. End of browser session  
_hjLocalStorageTest This cookie is used to check if the Hotjar Tracking Script can use local storage. If it can, a value of 1 is set in this cookie. The data stored in_hjLocalStorageTest has no expiration time, but it is deleted almost immediately after it is created. Under 100ms  
_hjIncludedInPageviewSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s pageview limit. 30 minutes from set/update  
_hjIncludedInSessionSample This cookie is set to let Hotjar know whether that user is included in the data sampling defined by your site’s daily session limit. 30 minutes from set/update  
_hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress This cookie is used to detect the first pageview session of a user. This is a True/False flag set by the cookie. 30 minutes from set/update  
_hjFirstSeen This is set to identify a new user’s first session. It stores a true/false value, indicating whether this was the first time Hotjar saw this user. It is used by Recording filters to identify new user sessions. End of browser session  
_hjViewportId This stores information about the user viewport such as size and dimensions. Session  
_hjRecordingEnabled This is added when a Recording starts and is read when the recording module is initialized to see if the user is already in a recording in a particular session. End of browser session

Please note that third parties (including, for example, advertising networks and providers of external services like web traffic analysis services) may also use cookies, over which we have no control. These cookies are likely to be analytical/performance cookies or targeting cookies.

You block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies) you may not be able to access all or parts of our site.