The BigQuery Data Transfer Service now integrates reporting and configuration data from Google Analytics 4 (GA4), enhancing the data available in BigQuery. This transfer includes 12 daily partitioned tables that mirror the reports found in the GA4 UI, such as Audiences, Conversions, Demographic details, Events, In-app purchases, Landing page, Pages and screens, Promotions, Tech details, Traffic Acquisition, and User Acquisition. Each table features two fields, _LATEST_DATE and _DATA_DATE, indicating the last export date and the report date, respectively.
Advantages and Disadvantages
Compared to the raw GA4 events export, the new service offers several benefits:
- Simplified schema that aligns with the UI
- Modeled data for easier analysis
- Inclusion of demographics data
However, it has limitations:
- Lack of granular event log/request/event level access
- No real-time export
- Data is limited to aggregated formats
- Absence of advanced attribution opportunities like first_user traffic source and session traffic source.
Reporting Options
The service allows for automatic scheduling of recurring load jobs for GA4 data, with the following reporting options:
- Repeat frequency: Daily (configurable time)
- Refresh window: Default of 4 days, configurable up to 30 days
Data Ingestion Process
Data from GA4 is loaded into BigQuery tables partitioned by date. If multiple transfers occur on the same date, the latest data overwrites the existing partition without duplicating data for other dates. The refresh window determines how many days of data are retrieved during each transfer, with backfill runs automatically triggered to update partitions as needed.
Prerequisites
Before initiating a GA4 data transfer, ensure:
- The user or service account has viewer access to the relevant property ID.
- All necessary actions to enable the BigQuery Data Transfer Service are completed.
- A BigQuery dataset is created for storing GA4 data.
- If using Pub/Sub for notifications, appropriate IAM permissions are set; email notifications do not require these permissions.
