How to send Server-originated events to Google Analytics 4 today? - google-analytics

What is a reliable way to send server-originated events (like purchase and refund) about specific mobile app users to Google Analytics 4 today?
As far as I can see, GA 4 Measurement protocol is still in the alpha stage. I've tried to implement it, however, it does not work (events sent to it are available in Realtime Dashboard and in intraday BigQuery table but they are not present in the daily dump of BigQuery and in the Google Analytics dashboards. Recently even this stopped working and I can't see any events nor in BigQuery neither in Realtime Dashboard.)
Also, there is a feature called Google Tag Manager Server Container.
I've found there a way to send events to GA4. However, it seems that GA4 Tag supports only events which were collected from web pages (it has Measurement ID parameter only, which corresponds to a specific data source in Google Analytics), but does not support mobile apps.

Related

Can I switch my Google Analytics property from GA4 to UA?

For some reason PowerBI does not accept GA4 as a connection, so my data is stuck in GA4.
PowerBI does support Universal Analytics (UA), but I cannot find a way to convert my GA property.
Is there a way to do this or should I start over again and create a new property as UA?
PowerBI currently doesn't support GA4 as a destination because the underlying api is not product ready yet. See the response in the microsoft power BI community here: https://community.powerbi.com/t5/Desktop/Power-BI-Google-Analytics/td-p/1679530
For information about the api's and their current state:
This is a link to the api documentation the plugin is using (for universal analytics): https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/core/v4
This is a link to the api documentation of GA4 (which is still in beta): https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/data/v1
Regarding a solution for your issue:
In GA4 is it possible to export data to big query, which can be processed there and imported to PowerBI: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-bi/connect-data/desktop-connect-bigquery
The export only works from the moment you enable it, so it is not possible to access the data this way before the enablement.
Second option is using data studio to connect to your GA4 data to be able to access the data you have measured before.
First off as everyone says you cant change the type of your Google analytics account if it was created as UA then its UA if it was created as GA4 then its GA4. There is also no way to exxport data.
Now lets look at the underlying cause of your problem Google analytics connector in Power BI Desktop rely on the Google Analytics Core Reporting API this API is used to extract data from Google Analytics UA accounts. There is a very big difference between the underlying data structure of a UA account and a GA4 account they are not completable in any way shape or form.
Thats why the Google analytics team is currently developing the Google analytics data api This api has the ability to connect to Google analytics GA4 accounts and extract data. At the time this post was created Power BI Google Analytics The Google analytics data api had just been released and was still in alpha test phase as you can see from the change log this API is still under development. I haven't checked but it looks like it may even be out of beta now. (TBH I am not really sure of the exact date it was released publicly as I have been in the alpha test group for a long time.)
However that being said a lot of the client libraries used by this api are still under development as well Google .Net Client library for Google Analytics Data API for example is still in beta. At the time that post was written i am almost 100% sure the client library had not been released.
This means that any power bi connector is probably not going to be released until both the API and the client library are considered stable. I know the team is working hard on the API and I Haven't seen any breaking changes in a very long time.
So to the user who added a bounty to this looking for an updated answer.
IMO I don't think you have long to wait before everything is stable enough for applications like the Power BI to start appearing that support GA4. That is assuming that someone creates one.
You can't covert GA4 to UA (or UA to GA4).
In your case you can create a new UA Property and start to track in it:

Firebase Limitation overcome in GA

In Firebase, It consists of several ​events ​which are sent along with additional ​key parameters​, some of those events contain around 30 key parameters and even more.
For Google Analytics this is not an issue since an event can be set up to be sent with 200 custom dimensions, nevertheless we are now required and forced by Google to use ​Firebase for apps, Firebase has a limitation of 25 parameters per event.
How do we proceed in case we only care about Google Analytics data.
Based on the solution of the above, what would happen in Firebase events?
Is there a way to have the events sent to Google analytics as well as Firebase ​without
causing any changes in Google Analytics? ​If so, how!?
Some of the events are reaching Firebase but not Google Analytics,
what could possibly be the reason, how should someone start an investigation?

How to add Google universal analytics to Google analytics 4 only?

I have create a Google analytics 4 property and been running and gathering data for while now.
I need some external tools to integrate with it and I saw developers reporting that GA4 does not have an API yet, so it does not support any integrations.
I saw that you can create a dual UA and GA4 property but I was unable to find how to add UA to existing GA4 property.
In short: How do I add universal analytics view without loosing any data or integrate with external tools i.e. slack bot posting regular updates? (work around with big Query?)
GA4 does have an API. You can use the Google Analytics Data API v1 to fetch analytics data. The developer's site for this API has more information: https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/data/v1. The API is currently available at an Alpha (preview) stability. The API will be entering Beta shortly.
When you read about creating dual Property it means tracking with both GA4 and Universal Analytics separately. They are 2 different scripts that track data in different platforms with different model.
Therefore you can create a new Universal Analytics Property in your Google Analytics Account and insert that code in the pages of your site, however it will start tracking from that moment on, you cannot have the history, both because you cannot transport data from a Property to the another (even if they were 2 Properties of the same type), and because GA4 has a completely different data collection model.
In any case, from the moment you start tracking with Universal Analytics then you can query the data with the relative API (i.e. Analytics Reporting API).

If the important changes affect our use of Google Analytics?

I received an email from Google Analytics, but I don't know if the changes will affect our use of Google Analytics? Can you investigate if the below changes affect our use of Google Analytics?
Below is the content of the email:
From: Google Analytics
Subject: Important changes to your Google Analytics for mobile apps properties
Disclaimer: If you are an Analytics 360 account holder, your properties in the 360 account will not be impacted by the changes described here and you can disregard this message.
Dear Google Analytics customer,
You are receiving this email because you have been identified as a user of the older style of Google Analytics mobile apps reporting and the Google Analytics Services SDK. Specifically, we are notifying you regarding your Google Analytics account(s) xxx xxx (1234567) and their properties listed below.
We want to remind you that starting this October we will begin sunsetting this older style of Google Analytics for mobile apps reporting and the Google Analytics Services SDK. We are investing our resources in the latest style of app reporting in Google Analytics that works in conjunction with Firebase – Google’s integrated app developer platform. As such, the following will take place:
Starting October, we will begin to decommission properties that were identified at the time of our first notice as receiving data exclusively from the Google Analytics Services SDK.
Data collection and processing for such properties will stop October 31, 2019.
Reporting access through our UI and API access will remain available for these properties’ historical data until January 31, 2020.
After our service is fully turned down in February, 2020, these properties will no longer be accessible via our Google Analytics UI or API, and their data will be removed from Google Analytics servers. You will receive further notification as these deadlines approach.
We want to give you plenty of time to make the transition and start collecting new data using the Firebase SDK, since your historical data will no longer be available. Our latest solution, however, is even more intuitive and includes free and unlimited event reporting to meet the needs of app-centric businesses. We’ve invested heavily to make this solution best-in-class, with new features and capabilities, such as a more robust Audience builder and multi-dimensional report filtering, rolling-out continually. Additionally, our offering is closely integrated with other Google products and features to help grow your app business like Crashlytics, Google Ads, AdMob and Remote Config. For more information, visit the Help Center for an overview and list of available features.
Affected Properties: xxx App Production (UA-1234567-6).
Thank you,
The Google Analytics Team

Google Analytics Measurement Protocol events sent via REST API are not seen on the dashboard

I am trying to use the Google Analytics Measurement Protocol to record some events happening on my server-side code. I am using the REST API as suggested here but I don't see any events on the Google Analytics dashboard.
When I try to add the event via the Google Analytics Hit Builder, then I am able to see that event in the dashboard.
I don't think any authentication is required while using the REST API and only a correct tracking ID is required which is present. I have confirmed that the POST request is not failing.
I am looking at the Realtime > Events to check whether the events are pushed or not. Is there a place where I can check the historical data to see if the events are present there.
Thanks!

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