Ingest GA4 metrics with the new Lakeflow Connect connector

Lakeflow Connect has added a managed Google Analytics Aggregated connector in Beta. It transfers aggregated Google Analytics 4 (GA4) metrics directly into Databricks using the Google Analytics Data API.

To start using the feature, workspace admins must enable it on the Previews page. Ingestion requires three setup steps: configure access in Google Analytics, create and store connection credentials in Unity Catalog Catalog Explorer, and deploy the ingestion pipeline using the API or Declarative Automation Bundles (DABs).

Use cases

Imagine your team needs to analyze conversion trends, acquisition channels, and consolidated audience traffic without writing and maintaining custom scripts against the Google Analytics Data API.

With this connector, you can:

• Ingest standard reports for user activity, acquisition, engagement, monetization, demographics, and tech.
• Build custom reports tailored with specific dimensions, metrics, and aggregation levels.
• Run incremental ingestion to capture new and updated reporting periods.
• Track historical variations using built-in Slowly Changing Dimensions (SCD) type 2 support.

Limitations and requirements

• Stage: Released in Beta; requires activation by a workspace admin on the Previews page.
• Interface: UI-based pipeline authoring is not supported. Pipelines must be created via API or Declarative Automation Bundles (DABs).
• Authentication: Supports OAuth 2.0 Service Accounts (machine-to-machine, recommended) and OAuth 2.0 user-to-machine (U2M). API keys and basic username/password authentication are not supported.
• Filtering and columns: Column selection and deselection via API are supported, but API-based row filtering is not supported.
• Schema evolution: New and deleted columns are handled automatically. Data type changes and column renames require a full refresh.
• Governance and orchestration: Governed through Unity Catalog and orchestratable with Lakeflow Jobs.
• Raw event data: To ingest raw, event-level GA4 data exported to BigQuery, use the Google Analytics Raw Data connector instead.

Using it in a pipeline

Aggregated reports land directly into Unity Catalog-governed Delta tables in the Bronze or Silver layer. Next, Lakeflow Jobs orchestrate scheduled transformations to merge GA4 engagement data with transactional business data into Gold tables for conversion and revenue reporting.