Custom Dimensions and Metrics pretty powerful feature in Google Analytics. In this post we will learn how you can use them in SSIS Google Analytics Source

Find Dimension ID or Metric ID

SSIS Google Analytics Source dimension / metric browser doesn’t list custom Dimensions or Custom Metrics so you have to do few extra steps.

First step is to find out custom Dimension / Metric ID  (not the name). ID is usually in sequence e.g. dimension1, dimension2…. dimensionN  or metric1, metric2… metricN just confirm which ID maps to which name. Perform following steps.

1. Goto Google Analytics Admin Section.
2. Click on Admin Section (gear icon) > Select Account  > Select Property > Click on Definitions > Under that Click on Custom Dimension or Custom Metrics
3. Select desired custom dimension or metric and click to edit
4. See JavaScript code it may have ID somewhere (e.g. dimension1 or metric1).
5. Copy that ID to use it in SSIS

Google Analytics Custom Dimension / Metric – Create new, edit existing or view to obtain ID

Set Custom Dimension and Metric in SSIS Google Analytics Source UI

Browse desired Dimensions or Metrics from the UI and once that’s done then enter Custom Dimension or Metric manually. Note that you have to prefix ga::YOUR-DIMENSION

ga:date,ga::dimension1

ga:sessions,ga:bounces,ga::metric1

SSIS Google Analytics Source – Using Custom Dimensions / Custom Metrics

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In our previous post, we saw how to get data from Google Analytics using SSIS. Once you get going with the drag and drop SSIS Google Analytics Connector, you may bump up to one interesting challenge. If your request includes sessions above a certain threshold, Google may start sampling your data to provide an average for many Metrics. So, how do you make sure your request includes all sessions in the calculation? The following sections will describe a few ways to achieve this.

Google Analytics Data Sampling Tips

There is no way to guarantee 100% Unsampled data in the Standard Google Analytics API call due to restrictions imposed by Google. However, there are a few workarounds that may help you achieve a very high Data Sampling rate.

The most common solution is that if you set the Sampling option to HIGHER_PRECISION, then Google may honor your request up to a certain threshold, but as the dataset grows (e.g., if you select a larger date range), Google may sample your data even though you set HIGHER_PRECISION.

Extract data from Google Analytics in SSIS: Use the Sample Size option to get Unsampled data.

Other ways to get unsampled data from the Google Analytics API

Now, let’s look at a few other ways if the previous approach doesn’t work.

1. Narrow down your Date range… e.g., Process day by day rather than a full extract. If day by day is also sampling, they try Hour-by-Hour.
2. Use the Google API to generate and download Unsampled data (We don’t have an article on this, but see the reference below).
3. Use a Google Analytics 360 Premium Account with the unsampled report feature. You can get this via the Web Interface or call the API to automate the extraction. https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2601061?hl=en

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/config/mgmt/v3/unsampled-reports
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2637192?hl=en&visit_id=1-636288218914624195-2113255108&rd=1

Downloading Unsampled report using Google Analytics 360 API – ZappySys REST API Task

If you are a Google Analytics 360 user and wish to use the API to generate a file and download it in SSIS, refer to the following article. It shows how to call the Google API. It’s not about the Analytics API, but you will get a high-level idea.

https://zappysys.com/blog/get-data-google-spreadsheet-using-ssis/

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Google Analytics is the most popular web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic. In this blog post you will learn how to get data from Google Analytics using SSIS using SSIS Google Analytics Source Connector (Using drag and drop approach without Coding). This article assumes you have basic knowledge about SSIS and you have necessary tools installed – Check this if not)

For demo purpose we will load data from Google Analytics into SQL Server Database but you can use same techniques to load data into Oracle, MySQL, Excel or any other RDBMS.

Prerequisite

This article assumes you have installed following tools

1. Install Client Tools for SSIS (atleast one version from below list) – Check this for detail
   1. BIDS for SSIS 2008 (i.e. SQL Server 2008 or 2008 R2) — OR —
   2. SSDT BI for Visual Studio 2012 (i.e. for SQL Server 2012) — OR —
   3. SSDT BI for Visual Studio 2013 (i.e. for SQL Server 2014) — OR —
   4. SSDT BI for Visual Studio 2015 (i.e. for SQL Server 2012/2014 or 2016)
2. Install SSIS PowerPack (Click here to download) it will add new Connector in SSIS Toolbox to access Google Analytics Connector.
3. You have setup correct permission for user to access google analytics data (See below section or read here)

Video Tutorial – Get data from Google Web Analytics Platform

What is Google Analytics Connector for SSIS?

The SSIS Google Analytics Source connector can be used to read data from your Google Analytics Service without learning complex APIs or coding/scripting in Python, Java, C#, etc. It has an easy to use drag and drop interface which allows you to extract large amounts of data, adjusting parameters such as dimensions, metrics, filters, sortby, date range etc. You can also use in-built reports or specify a direct query URL to get the desired data.

Read more about Google Analytics Source Connector

Features

• The intuitive user interface makes Google Analytics data integration super easy and fast without learning complex APIs or scripting languages
• Support for OAuth 2.0 Authentication and Google service accounts (*.p12 certificate file)
• Support for Proxy Server
• Easy to use interface with three different ways to query Google Analytics data: (1) Build query from UI, (2) Use built-in query templates, and (3) Use direct queries
• Support for dynamic dimensions, metrics, segments, filters and sortby fields (e.g. supply these values at runtime)
• Live preview support at design time
• Support for AdWords, AdSense, Ad Exchange and DoubleClick for Publisher (DFP)

Setup Google analytics data permission for users / service account

If you are not an admin of Google analytics and you need to access google analytics then make sure you ask admin to give you correct permission using below steps

To add/edit user permissions for Google Analytics Data perform following steps.

1. Login to your Google Analytics Portal (Login using Admin account or use google user account who setup Google Analytics) Click here to go to google analytics
2. Click on Admin tab > Click User management > Add/Edit user account permission

For more information you may visit official link : How to setup permission for google analytics

Add/Edit Permissions and User Account for Google Analytics Data Access (Service Account/ Normal Google Login)

SSIS Google Analytics Connector – Select Web Profile

Get Data from Google AdWords using SSIS ( use Google Analytics Source Connector)

Conclusion

Integration with Google Analytics Data can be challenging unless you understand how to write C#, Java, Python code using Google SDKs. If you are not a coder or you are in time crunch then drag and drop integration in SSIS using High quality Connector using ZappySys Google Analytics Source Connector will surely make your life easy. It supports all major SQL Server versions upto SQL Server 2016 32-bit/64-bit. Try SSIS PowerPack yourself for FREE.

Keywords

Fetch data from Google Web Analytics using SSIS | Extract google analytics data using SSIS | Load data from Google Analytics without Coding | Google Web analytics data import using REST API

Google Web Analytics Reporting REST API reference link

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