Use the GA4 Exports Template in Data Explorer

Use the GA4 Exports Template in Data Explorer

Power My Analytics offers pre-made report templates in our Data Explorer for use with your Google Analytics 4 data. By using our GA4 report templates, you can configure your reports in just a few minutes and prepare your data for export to destinations like BigQuery, SQL, and FTP.

Why Use the GA4 Exports Template?

PMA's Data Explorer includes the template GA4 Exports. Using this template will create the following set of pre-made reports in Data Explorer for your Google Analytics 4 data:
  1. Checkout Journey
  2. Content
  3. Ecommerce Purchases
  4. Events
  5. Landing Page
  6. Overview
  7. Overview - GEO
  8. Planning - Google Ads
  9. Purchase Journey
  10. Tech
These reports contain several preselected common fields and are designed to replicate the GA4 user interface. With this template, you'll only have to set up your GA4 report in Data Explorer once, and the GA4 Exports report group can then be created automatically using the Create Template Reports function.

Getting Started

In this guide, we'll walk you through the process of setting up your GA4 Exports template reports:
  1. Connect your Google account as a data source.
  2. Set up your Data Explorer report group using PMA's GA4 Exports template and configure your reports for an initial backfill.
  3. Configure your export to SQL, BigQuery, or FTP and run the initial backfill to export your historical data.
  4. Set up your reports and exports to use a rolling update window, keeping your exports up to date with the latest data. 

Before You Begin

An Enterprise subscription to Power My Analytics is required in order to export your Data Explorer reports.
  1. Your Google account must have Viewer access in GA4 at the Property and View levels.
  2. Make sure you are logged in to the Google account with access to the GA4 property.

Step 1: Connect Your Google Account as a Data Source

First, you'll need to add your Google account as a data source to access your GA4 data.
  1. In your PMA hub, go to Sources in the left sidebar.
  2. Click on + New Data Source.



  3. Click on Google.



  4. Select your Google account to sign in.



  5. Click Continue.



  6. You will be asked to grant permissions to your Google account. Select Edit Google Analytics management entities and View and manage your Google Analytics data.

  7. Click Continue.

Step 2: Create Your GA4 Reports

The next step is to create your GA4 Exports reports in the Data Explorer.

Create Your Initial Report

  1. In your hub, go to Reports > Data Explorer in the left sidebar.
  2. Click + Add Report.



  3. Click on Report Name and enter a name for your report, like "GA4 Export - Your Organization Name".



  4. Under Connector, select Google Analytics 4.



  5. For Data Account, click Account and select the Google account you connected as a data source.



  6. Under Configure, click on Account and select the GA4 property or properties you want to export. Click Set Config.



  7. For Date Range, choose the duration of data you want to export for your initial backfill of historical data. For example, you can pick a date range of Last X months and select the last 24 months.





  8. Click Set Range.



  9. In Fields, you can enter any metric or dimension (such as Date), as this will be overwritten by PMA's GA4 Exports templates. Click Set Fields to continue.



  10. Under Filter, optionally create a filter for your data. Click Set Filter to continue.



  11. Under Options, select any field for Order By and set the Limit to 1000000.





  12. Click Save to save your report.

Create Your GA4 Template Reports

  1. Go back to Reports > Data Explorer. Create your report group by clicking on the pencil icon next to the Group menu.



  2. In Group Name, enter a name for the report group, such as "GA4 Exports Group". Click Create.



  3. Return to Reports > Data Explorer and find the name of your report. Click on the green copy icon in your report's row to Create template reports.



  4. For Template Reports, select GA4 Exports.



  5. Under Report Group, select the name of the report group you just created.



  6. Click Confirm to create the GA4 template reports.

You will be taken to the report group you created, which contains the 10 GA4 reports:



Your reports are now ready to be exported.

Step 3: Configure Your Export and Run Your Initial Backfill

For detailed instructions on setting up exports to specific data destinations, please see the following articles:
  1. How to Export to BigQuery
  2. How to Export to MySQL
  3. How to Export to Azure SQL Database
  4. How to Create an FTP Export
In this example, we'll configure an export of the reports to BigQuery.
  1. In the left sidebar, go to Exports > BigQuery.
  2. Click + Create Export.



  3. Under Destination, select your BigQuery account.



  4. For Dataset, select your BigQuery dataset and enter a Table name prefix (e.g., "ga4_"). Click Next.





  5. Under Report or Report Group, select Group of reports. For Report Group, select the name of the report group you created. Click Next.







  6. For Schedule, select any Refresh Period (you'll initiate the export manually in the next step).



  7. Click Add, then click Confirm to create the export.





  8. Find your export in Exports > BigQuery, then click the play icon to Run Export Now. The export will begin running, as indicated by the three dots icon. 



  9. Wait for the three dots icon to change back to a play button, indicating the export has finished.

Step 4: Set Up Rolling Updates of Your Data

Now it's time to configure your reports and your export for rolling updates.
Note: When choosing your report's date range in Data Explorer, make sure it is at least as long as the export's scheduled refresh period in order to avoid missing data. For example:
  1. If your report's date range is one week but your export refreshes monthly, your export will fail to include data from before the last week of the month.
  2. If your report's date range is one week and your export refreshes daily, your export will overwrite the past seven days every day, keeping this data up to date.
  1. Go to Reports > Data Explorer and click on Group. Select the group you created for the GA4 Exports template reports.



  2. For each report in the group:
    1. Click the pencil icon to Edit Report. 



    2. Go to Date Range and choose a rolling window  (e.g., last 7 days).



    3. Click Set Range, then Save. 



  3. Go back to Exports > BigQuery and click the pencil icon to Edit Export.

  4. Under Schedule, choose how frequently you want your data export to run (monthly, weekly, daily, or hourly).



  5. Click Update, then Confirm.



Your export will now run automatically at the scheduled time.


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