As the volume of data generated by businesses surges higher, there is an increased demand to know what information can be gotten out of this data. To be able to carry out effective analysis of such data, a storage system has to be put in place to hold this data before Analysis is carried out on them, these storage locations are known as Data Warehouses. 

Connecting data Visualization tools to a Data Warehouse allow you to structure, discover patterns, and get metrics from your data through Analysis which are presented as reports and used to form a better understanding of your data. Snowflake is a great choice for a Data Warehouse as it can be built on existing cloud platforms, such as Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, or Microsoft Azure. 

Google Data Studio is one of the best tools you can use to visualize your Marketing data from any Data Warehouse, a free tool with endless opportunities for creating and customizing reports from your generated data pool. In this article, you will learn the steps to set up Google Data Studio Snowflake Integration using Partner Connectors and how it helps Marketers flow data from Snowflake to Google Data Studio and analyze data.

Table of Contents

Prerequisites

  • An active Google Data Studio account.
  • An active Snowflake account.

Introduction to Google Data Studio

Google Data Studio Logo
Image Source

Data Studio is an online platform from Google that enables you to make custom reports with data gotten from different sources which may include Google Sheets, Google Analytics, Google Search Console, Google Ads, Google BigQuery, etc. It helps you to create branded reports with data visualizations that can be shared with colleagues, team members, customers, management, clients, and others.

It helps in the manipulation and exploration of data from raw files into metrics and indices needed to create easy-to-understand reports. These reports can be visualized using simple representations such as bar charts, graphs, and tables. 

Dashboards created with Data Studio are automated and update regularly whenever new changes are detected in the connected data source. With Data Studio, you can compare, filter, and organize the data you need in one report to know where to improve key performance indicators. Google Data Studio is a user-friendly tool helping businesses save time and boost productivity through its over 800+ data sets and 490+ connectors making data easier to understand, modify, and create reports. 

From the created reports, you can share KPIs and insights with colleagues or co-workers within your organization to improve your business performance. 

Key Features of Google Data Studio

A few features of Google Data Studio are listed below:

  • Data Control: With the Data Control features in Google Data Studio, users don’t need to switch to multiple reports to have a look at different data patterns from different sources. Users can easily select the data they want to see in the report.
  • Real-Time Collaboration: Google Data Studio allow users to invite other people on the same dashboard to edit and collaborate reports in real-time. All the changes are saved automatically in real-time.
  • Report Templates: Google Data Studio comes with many pre-built templates that allow users to quickly set up their dashboards and reports with little customizing.

To know more about Google Data Studio, click here.

Introduction to Snowflake

Snowflake Logo
Image Source

Snowflake is a data warehouse that has been built for the Cloud. Snowflake is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform that provides a fast and robust engine for storing and querying data, built on Amazon Web Service, Microsoft Azure, and Google infrastructure. 

Snowflake is ideal for organizations that do not want to have dedicated resources for setup, maintenance, and support for in-house servers as its architecture separates its storage unit from its compute unit, thereby scaling differently so customers can use and pay for both independently. Snowflake is highly scalable and flexible with big data. 

Key Features of Snowflake

A few features of Snowflake are listed below:

  • Data Sharing: Users can securely share the data to other Snowflake accounts and consume data provided by other Snowflake accounts.
  • Connectivity: Snowflake offers easy integration with most major 3rd party tools and services used by Enterprises. It also supports an extensive set of client connectors and drivers.
  • Data Import and Export: Snowflake supports bulk loading and unloading of data that includes character encoding, compressed files, delimited data files, etc.

To know more about Snowflake, click here.

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Steps to Set Up Google Data Studio Snowflake Integration

Google Data Studio is one of the best visualization tools available and can be very helpful in visualizing data from Snowflake to give you an endless range of possibilities while customizing your reports. There is no direct native connector for Google Data Studio Snowflake currently so users have had to use methods to work around trying to pull data from Snowflakes to Data Studio by using Google Sheets as a spreadsheet data source in Data studio.

However, there are third-party applications built by Data Studio partners via the Community Connectors developer program to enable the connection of Snowflake’s data in Data Studio through Data Studio’s UI without having to visit another website or create queries to select metrics and dimensions you want to access. This route allows you to get instant cloud-to-cloud access to Snowflake data by simply selecting the tables you want to upload from a drop-down menu to easily build reports from your live Snowflake data in Google Data Studio.

This article will look at how to set up Google Data Studio Snowflake Integration using the third-party app Supermetrics. These connectors are highly secured as they are created with standard security measures. You can decide to use OAuth or security tokens to log in to Data Studio as will be shown in one of the steps. For Google Data Studio Snowflake Integration, carry out the following steps to achieve this is as enumerated below:

  1. Access Google Data Studio from your web browser using  https://datastudio.google.com, it will open the dashboard, as shown in the image below.
Google Data Studio Dashboard
Image Source: Self
  1. Click on Create at the top left corner of the screen then select Data Source from the drop-down menu, as shown in the image below.
Creating New Data Source
Image Source: Self

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  1. In the Search box, type Snowflake to get an array of possible connectors , as shown in the image below.
Searching for Snowflake Connector
Image Source: Self
  1. Select Snowflake by Supermetrics and authorize Supermetrics to access your Google account by clicking on AUTHORIZE. Select Allow to grant it the final permission, as shown in the image below.
Authorizing Supermetrics for Google Data Studio Snowflake Connection
Image Source: Self
Granting all the Permissions
Image Source: Self
  1. In the next step, you will also be required to give Snowflake permission to access Google Data Studio by clicking on AUTHORIZE, as shown in the image below.
Connecting Snowflake Account with Supermetrics Connector
Image Source: Self
  1. You can complete the authorization process by selecting either Connect with API username and secret key or Connect with oAuth, as shown in the image below. 
Logging to Snowflake Account
Image Source: Self
  1. Selecting either one from the options stated above will require you to fill in your credentials, as shown in the image below.
Providing Valid Credentials and Information
Image Source: Self
  1. Click on Start after filling to complete the connection, as shown in the image below.
Starting the Data Flow
Image Source: Self

You can now use SQL to build more complex queries and arrange various data sets in Data Studio by selecting the Query Type, DB Connection, and Database query, as shown in the image below.

Google Data Studio Snowflake SQL Workspace
Image Source: Self

Conclusion

In this article, you learnt about Snowflake, Google Data Studio, and the steps to set up Google Data Studio Snowflake Integration. You read about one of the possible ways of connecting Google Data Studio Snowflake using third-party software Supermetrics in this write-up. Google Data Studio Snowflake Integration helps Marketers easily flow data from their Data Warehouse to Google Data Studio and leverage the power of Data Analytics to generate beneficial insights from the Data. 

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Snowflake stores business and operational data that needs Analysis. Companies can send data from Snowflake to Google Data Studio. Hevo Data is a No-code Data Pipeline that can help you transfer data from Snowflake to Data Source. It fully automates the process to load and transform data from 100+ sources to a destination of your choice without writing a single line of code. 

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Share your experience of learning about Google Data Studio Snowflake Integration in the comments section below!

Ofem Eteng
Freelance Technical Content Writer, Hevo Data

Ofem is a freelance writer specializing in data-related topics, who has expertise in translating complex concepts. With a focus on data science, analytics, and emerging technologies.

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