Connecting to Google Analytics from Power BI Service via Service Account

[willayd]

Is there a best practice for connecting to Google Analytics via the Power BI Service on an automated schedule? My use case is to refresh GA data once per day, but ideally without having to code any personal credentials into the connection on the service. 

I believe from the GA side I could establish a service account for this purpose, but I don't see any way to use that service account from the Power BI Service as it always requires a user name / password rather than using key authentication.

[adelheni]

Well I think you might be looking for a third-party connector, you would just have to connect your Google Analytics account to the platform and they get your data into power bi and it will be refreshed automatically without asking for a user id nor password.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3WA6-jk5EM&ab_channel=Windsor.aiPerformanceMarketing

this video has a guide on how to do it.
We have been using them to connect Google Analytics, Google search console to power bi.

https://windsor.ai/connect-google-analytics-to-power-bi-guide/

Hope this helps!!

[v-diye-msft]

Hi @willayd 

would you like to connect the Google Analytics from power bi desktop and then publish to the service?

You can connect to Google Analytics data using the Google Analytics connector. To connect, follow these steps:

1. In Power BI Desktop, select Get Data from the Home ribbon tab.
2. In the Get Data window, select Online Services from the categories in the left pane.
3. Select Google Analytics from the selections in the right pane.
4. At the bottom of the window, select Connect.

You're prompted with a dialog that explains that the connector is a Third-Party Service, and warns about how features and availability may change over time, and other clarifications.

When you select Continue, you're prompted to sign in to Google Analytics.

When you enter your credentials, you're prompted that Power BI would like to have offline access. This is how you use Power BI Desktop to access your Google Analytics data.

Once you accept, Power BI Desktop shows that you're currently signed in.

Please note that after publish it to the service and schedule refresh, it doesn't require any gateway.

[willayd]

Thanks for the reply, but no that's not what I am looking for. I am wondering if there is a way to user a Google Analytics Service Account rather than having to use the credentials of the report author for data refresh:

https://developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/core/v4/authorization#service_accounts