Google Sheets to Firebolt: 2 Easy Ways to Integrate Data

Wouldn’t you like to uncover the full potential of your Google Sheets data with real-time analytics and actionable insights? This is where Firebolt, a game-changing analytics platform designed to provide you with insights at lightning speed, will be helpful. With the seamless integration of Google Sheets to Firebolt, you can harness the power of the data collected in spreadsheets.

Downloading and uploading CSV files is one way you can go about it. Alternatively, you could opt for an automated tool that can handle frequent, real-time data integrations and complex transformations. Let’s explore the two ways to move your Google Sheets data to Firebolt.

Methods to Connect Google Sheets to Firebolt

The two methods you can use for a Google Sheets-Firebolt integration are:

• Method 1: Move data from Google Sheets using CSV Files
• Method 2: Automating the data replication process using a no-code tool

Prerequisites

Before you proceed with moving your Google Sheets data to Firebolt, here are a few prerequisites:

• An active Google account.
• An active Firebolt account.
• Username and password of your Firebolt account.
• A Firebolt database to load your data.
• A General Purpose engine attached to your database.
• An Amazon S3 bucket in the same region as your Firebolt database.

Method 1: Move Data from Google Sheets using CSV Files

This method of moving data from Google Sheets to Firebolt consists of the following steps:

• Step 1: Export data from Google Sheets
• Step 2: Upload data to an Amazon S3 bucket
• Step 3: Upload data to Firebolt

Let’s look into the details of the required steps for Google Sheets to Firebolt migration.

Step 1: Export Data from Google Sheets

• Open the Google Sheets document that contains the data you want to export.
• Click on File and then select Download.
• Choose the CSV format to export the data.
• Ensure that the exported CSV file is without any inconsistencies or errors.

Step 2: Upload Data to an Amazon S3 Bucket

Upload the exported CSV file/s to an Amazon S3 bucket, which is in the same region as your Firebolt database.

You can use Identity and Access Management (IAM) to manage access to your S3 bucket resources. Consider using the AWS Management Console to set up permissions.

Step 3: Upload Data to Firebolt

It’s important to note that no data is stored in Firebolt. Instead, Firebolt uses an external table as a connector to your data source. To load data into Firebolt, you must follow these steps:

• Create an external table by running the CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE command. This virtual table establishes a direct connection to your external data source. Firebolt uses AWS IAM permissions to load data from Amazon S3 to Firebolt.

To allow Firebolt to read from the data source, specify the credentials in the table definition. The credentials can either be an IAM role or access key details.

CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE IF NOT EXISTS ex_lineitem
( l_orderkey LONG,
l_partkey LONG,
l_suppkey LONG,
l_linenumber INT,
l_quantity LONG,
l_extendedprice LONG,
l_discount LONG,
l_tax LONG,
l_returnflag TEXT,
l_linestatus TEXT,
l_shipdate TEXT,
l_commitdate TEXT,
l_receiptdate TEXT,
l_shipinstruct TEXT,
l_shipmode TEXT,
l_comment TEXT
)
URL = 's3://firebolt-publishing-public/samples/tpc-h/csv/lineitem/'
-- CREDENTIALS = ( AWS_KEY_ID = '******' AWS_SECRET_KEY = '******' )

This sample command includes the following:

• Create an external table named ex_lineitem if it doesn’t already exist.
• The definition of the different columns specifying the name and data type.
• The URL or location of the external data source. This points to data stored in an S3 bucket.
• The AWS credentials—AWS_KEY_ID and AWS_SECRET_KEY— can be optionally included to access the S3 data.
• Create a fact table to store the data in Firebolt for querying.
• Import the data into the fact table by using the INSERT INTO command. When you use INSERT INTO, Firebolt will assume the IAM role to read from the specified location. This will load data from the external table into the fact table.

This completes the Google Sheets Firebolt migration process.

Despite being a time-consuming process that requires manual efforts, this method is useful for:

• Migrating a small dataset through Google Sheets to Firebolt: When you handle a limited amount of data, you can easily manage the data migration manually. This will not require complex data extraction or transformation pipelines.
• A one-time transfer of Google Sheets data to Firebolt: The time-consuming nature of the process may not pose significant challenges for a one-time transfer. You can move your data into Firebolt without having to set up a complex data integration pipeline. 
• Exploring the capabilities of Firebolt with a hands-on approach: Using this method allows you to load data into the platform manually. This hands-on exploration will help you familiarize yourself with Firebolt’s features. 

Limitations of the Manual Method to Move Data from Google Sheets to Firebolt

• Manually migrating data is usually a one-time or periodic process. This means that you can’t achieve real-time data synchronization between the two platforms. If there are frequent edits in the Google Sheets data, this method won’t work.
• If you need regular or scheduled data updates, you must perform the same steps repeatedly to manually move the data. This can be time-consuming when dealing with frequent updates or large datasets.

Method 2: Automating the Replication Process using a No-Code Tool

Manually moving your Google Sheets data to Firebolt isn’t the most efficient way for larger datasets and real-time data replication from multiple sources. A better alternative is to use no-code tools that can simplify the process. Some advantages of such tools include:

• Pre-built Integrations: No-code tools often come with built-in connectors, making it easy to set up a data ingestion pipeline between various platforms.
• Data Transformation Capabilities: Many no-code tools have built-in data transformation capabilities, allowing you to manipulate the data during the data migration. This transforms the data into a destination-specific format.
• Error Handling: Typically, no-code tools include error handling and monitoring capabilities. You can identify any data migration issues from alerts, error logs, or notifications and address them.

Hevo is an effective no-code tool that can help overcome the hassles of the manual method. You can achieve an error-free, near-real-time Google Sheets to Firebolt integration by using Hevo Data. This fully-managed cloud data pipeline platform can help you move your Google Sheets data to Firebolt in just a few minutes.

All it takes are a few clicks with the easy-to-use interface to set up the data replication pipeline. Here are the steps involved in migrating your Google Sheets data to Firebolt:

• Configure Source: First, select the Google Sheets account—User account or Service account—to configure. Specify a Pipeline Name and Sheets to replicate. Then, click on TEST & CONTINUE.

• Configure Destination: After selecting the destination as Firebolt, you must configure your Firebolt destination. Specify the details like a Destination Name, Username and Password of your Firebolt account, and S3 Bucket Name and Region. Click on TEST CONNECTION, then click SAVE DESTINATION.

These two simple steps complete the Google Sheets Firebolt integration process.

The default pipeline frequency for Google Sheets data replication is five minutes, which is also the minimum pipeline frequency. The maximum pipeline frequency is 48 hours, and the custom frequency range can be set for 1-48 hours.

Let’s look at some features of Hevo that make it a must-try data integration tool:

• Live Support: Hevo has a dedicated support team to ensure you get round-the-clock help with your project. The 24×7 support is available through email, chat, and voice call.
• Connectors: Hevo supports 150+ integrations to databases, including BI tools, SaaS platforms, files, and analytics. Some of the destinations it supports include Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, PostgreSQL, etc.
• Built to Scale: Hevo has a fault-tolerant architecture with absolutely no data loss and minimal latency. As the number of sources and data volume grows, Hevo scales horizontally. It can handle millions of records per minute with very little latency.

What Can You Achieve by Migrating Data from Google Sheets to Firebolt?

Migrating your Google Sheets data to Firebolt can help you achieve more with your data. Here are some of the benefits:

• Understand Your Customers: You can unify all of your data across multiple channels, like websites, social media, email, and mobile apps. When combined, the valuable data generated by each channel will help you gain actionable insights and understand your customers better.
• Increase Online Conversions: By examining website traffic originating from diverse sources, you can understand the performance of different content based on clickstream metrics. This analysis will help improve online conversion rates.
• Improve Marketing ROI: You can collect detailed marketing reports from multiple channels, including Google Ads, for detailed analysis. This will help you gain insights into the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, in turn, aid in improving marketing ROI.

Conclusion

Migrating data from Google Sheets to Firebolt can help you gain in-depth insights into your business operations. However, you need to leverage the right migration technique to simplify your entire workflow. 

The two methods to connect Google Sheets to Firebolt are using CSV files and using Hevo. CSV files are handy for one-time replication but for real-time needs, a no-code data replication tool is highly recommended.

Discover the advantages of integrating Google Sheets with Databricks to enhance your data analysis capabilities.

Hevo Data allows you to replicate data in near real-time from 150+ sources to the destination of your choice including Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, Databricks, and Firebolt, without writing a single line of code. We’d suggest you use this data replication tool for real-time demands like tracking the sales funnel or monitoring your email campaigns. This’ll free up your engineering bandwidth, allowing you to focus on more productive tasks.

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For rare times things go wrong, Hevo Data ensures zero data loss. To find the root cause of an issue, Hevo Data also lets you monitor your workflow so that you can address the issue before it derails the entire workflow. Add 24*7 customer support to the list, and you get a reliable tool that puts you at the wheel with greater visibility.

If you don’t want SaaS tools with unclear pricing that burn a hole in your pocket, opt for a tool that offers a simple, transparent pricing model. Hevo Data has 3 usage-based pricing plans starting with a free tier, where you can ingest up to 1 million records.

FAQ on Google Sheets to Firebolt

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