Connecting to Google Analytics
1. Overview
Google Analytics is a service offered by Google that compiles statistics regarding visitors to a website.
This article shows you how to set up a data connector to extract data from your Google Analytics account.
2. Google Analytics account
You must have a Google Analytics account in order to create this data connector in Dundas BI.
To sign up, go to: http://www.google.com/analytics/
3. Setup
3.1. Developers Console project
You need to create or use an existing project in the Google Developers Console as a first step.
Go to https://console.developers.google.com/project and sign into your Google/Gmail account.
Once signed in, you'll see a list of existing projects (if there are any) or you can click Create project to create a new one.
3.2. Enable the Analytics API
Then click the menu button in the top-left corner of the Developers Console, expand APIs & Services and click Library.
Ensure the correct project is selected at the top-left of the screen. Scroll down and click the Google Analytics API tile.
Click Enable to enable the Google Analytics API.
3.3. Service account credentials
This section shows you how to generate Service account credentials which will allow Dundas BI to access your Google Analytics data.
From the left navigation, click Credentials. Click Create credentials and select the Service account option.
Enter a name and a role for the account.
When done, record the service account email address. Copy this from the account details and paste it somewhere to refer to later such as a Notepad app on your computer.
Next, add a new key for the service account. For example, click to edit the service account and click Add Key. Choose a JSON key type.
When finished, a certificate file should be downloaded. This file will be needed later to set up a data connector in Dundas BI.
3.3.1. P12 file type
If you need a P12 key type instead of the default JSON, additional details are needed.
A popup should be displayed that shows the password for the private key. Copy and paste this password with your service account e-mail to refer to later.
3.4. Authorization
Now that the client credentials have been generated, sign into your Google Analytics account in order to give authorization to these credentials.
Go to the Admin area and click User Management.
In the Add permissions box, enter or paste the service account email address that you recorded earlier. Then click Add.
4. New data connector
From the main menu in Dundas BI, click New, and then select Data Connector.
In the New Data Connector dialog, assign a Name for your connector, and set the Data Provider dropdown to Google Analytics.
Click Choose File and select the certificate file downloaded earlier, then review the options:
- If the certificate file is of a P12 file type, you have to provide the Service Account E-Mail Address and Password For The .P12 File that you recorded previously.
- When the Use Reporting API checkbox is selected, the core v4 version of the API will be used. If unchecked, the core v3 version will be used.
- Choose from the available Sampling Level options.
Click Test connection to check the connection to your account.
Click the submit button at the bottom to save and check in the data connector, and perform data discovery.
5. Displaying Google Analytics data
To see the Google Analytics data, create a new metric set or dashboard.
Go to the Explore window, expand your data connector and its cube, then drag its measures and dimensions to the canvas.
