Data Import and Measurement Protocol
Feras Alhlou, Shiraz Asif, Eric Fettman · 2016
This chapter examines data import and the Measurement Protocol (MP), which allows any programmed, networked environment to push hits into GA in the form of basic HTTP requests. The management API would be a better option in scenarios where automation is desired. If data is being uploaded to GA on an ad hoc or infrequent basis, then the interface method works perfectly. The procedure for importing content data is similar to importing user data. Product data import is quite straightforward and allows users to add or overwrite many Ecommerce and Enhanced Ecommerce dimensions, as well as the price metric, using product SKU as the key. Scenarios for MP usage include mobile apps designed for Windows, Blackberry, or other mobile operating systems for which GA SDKs are not available. The import of custom dimensions was formerly referred to as dimension widening, since the process adds dimensions to user, hit, and product data that has already been recorded.