Google Analytics

Description

The Google Analytics step, which is located under the Input category in Spoon, allows you to access your Google analytics data to generate reports or to populate your data warehouse. It uses the Google Analytics 3.0 API.

The Google Analytics Query Explorer provides a dedicated website to developing and testing queries with the Google Analytics API, independently of a PDI transformation.

Prerequisites

  1. You must have a Google Analytics account, and be an owner of the Analytics account that will be used.
  2. The Google Analytics step requires an API key. The method that we support involves generating a private key, creating a service account, and adding the service account's email as a user on your Google Analytics account.  Here is how to do this.
    1. Go to http://console.developers.google.com and sign in with your credentials.
    2. In the Projects page, click Create Project, then when the New Project dialog appears, provide a project name and click Create.
    3. In the dashboard select Enable and Manage APIs.  
    4. Search for Analytics API
    5. Select Analytics API from the search results, then click the Enable API button.  
    6. In the left menu pane, click Credentials, then click the Add Credentials button, and select Service Account
    7. When prompted for a key type, select the P12 option, and click Create.  Before the P12 file is downloaded you will be prompted to open or save the file.  Save the file in a safe location.  Saving the file is important because you can not download it again.  You will also need to reference the path to this file when you fill out the Google Analytics step in Spoon.
    8. Copy the Service Account's Email Address (<random characters>@developer.gserviceaccount.com). You will paste it in another field later in these instructions.
    9. Go to http://google.com/analytics and sign in with your credentials.  
    10. Click  the Admin menu option, then click User Management.  
    11. In the Add permissions for field, enter the Service Account's email address you copied previously.  Make sure the user has, at minimum, the Read and Analyze permission.

Options

Google Analytics Connection Settings

Option

Description

Application Name

Enter an application name such as "PDI" or leave the default.

OAuth Service Email

Your Google Developer Service Account's Email Address (e.g. "<random characters@developer.gserviceaccount.com>").

Key file

The path to the P12 private key associated with your OAuth Service account.

Specify tableId directly

Check this option if you want to specify the tableId directly without getting the tableId from the profile.

Get tableId from profile

Select the tableId from your profile.

Query Definition

Option

Description

Start Date

Specifies the start date associated with the query.  The date must be entered in the following format: YYYY-MM-DD.

End Date

Specifies the end date associated with the query. The date must be entered in the following format: YYYY-MM-DD.

Dimensions

Specifies the dimension fields for which you want to query.  The Google Analytics API documentation provides you with a list of valid inputs and metrics that can be combined.

Metrics

Specifies the metrics fields you want returned.  At least one metric must be provided.

Filters

Specifies the filter (described in the Google Analytics API documentation).  Here is an example: 'ga:country==Algeria'.

Sort

Specifies a field on which to sort.  Here is an example: 'ga:city'.

Specify a segment for the query

Allows you to specify a segment for the query.  A segment is analogous to a database "view."

Use custom segment

Check this option, when you want to specify a custom segment.  A segment is analogous to a database "view."

Use predefined segment

Select from the predefined segments. A segment is analogous to a database "view."

Fields

Click Get Fields to retrieve a list of possible fields based on the query you defined.
Click Preview to preview data based on the defined query.

Metadata Injection Support

All fields of this step support metadata injection. You can use this step with ETL Metadata Injection to pass metadata to your transformation at runtime.

References

  • Google Analytics Query Explorer: This tool lets you play with the Core Reporting API by building queries to get data from your Google Analytics profiles. You can use these queries in the step.
  • Reference guides for Google Analytics:, Dimensions & Metrics.