Managing Google Analytics Properties (Open Berkeley Websites)

Google Analytics is self-service. It is not part of the core bConnected collaboration suite and is not supported by any campus team. Please refer to Google’s own Analytics documentation and support forums if you have questions about how to use it.

Google Analytics reports provide insightful reporting data about website traffic:

  • Visitors Overview (number of visits to your site)
  • How visitors reach your site
  • How visitors view your pages (browsers)
  • Where visitors come from (geographic locations)
  • Most popular pages
  • Number of hits on individual content pages
  • And more

Google Analytics process and requirements

Upon request, the Web Platform Services team will activate Google Analytics for managed Open Berkeley websites. Open Berkeley customers must designate a Google Analytics "Account Manager."

To designate an Account Manager and to request activation of Google Analytics on an Open Berkeley website, please have the appropriate person do the following:

  1. Create a Google Analytics 4 property for your website (see "Create a Google Analytics 4 property (new accounts)," below).
  2. Find the Google Analytics 4 measurement ID (see "Find your measurement ID," below).
  3. Fill out the Google Analytics Account Manager form.

Web Platform Services does not manage access to GA accounts. If you need access to Google Analytics for your site, contact your site owner or GA account manager. Web Platform Services recommends that you review access to your Google Analytics accounts regularly, and that you add a SPA or departmental email account as an account administrator in order to maintain access in case of staff turnover. If you lose access to your GA account, the only recovery option would be to create a new account.

Privacy and security

All Open Berkeley sites must comply with the Campus Online Activities Policy and the Privacy statement for UC Berkeley Websites. Sites using Google Analytics must also comply with the guidelines for Google products set by the campus Privacy Office and by Web Platform Services. These guidelines are:

  • Google Tag Manager: Google Tag Manager allows adding arbitrary, untested Javascript to websites. Because this can cause performance and security issues, its use is not allowed on Open Berkeley websites.
  • Google Analytics settings: The Campus Website Privacy Standards lay out the requirements for use of Google Analytics 4, the latest version of GA. See Appendix B of the linked document for details. Among other requirements, the standards prohibit Google Signals, ad personalization, cross-platform user tracking, and other uses that may cause personally-identifiable information to be tracked.

The Campus Website Privacy Standards and our own guidelines are subject to change. By using Google Analytics on your Open Berkeley site, you agree to follow these guidelines. Web Platform Services reserves the right to disable Google Analytics on any Open Berkeley site that is not following these guidelines.

How to get started with Google Analytics on Open Berkeley

Sign in to Google Analytics

  1. Go to https://analytics.google.com. This should route you to a Google account sign-in page.
  2. Enter your full berkeley.edu email address. This should route you to the CalNet login page.

Note: If you have already signed in with your own CalNet ID, a CalNet SPA (Special Purpose Account), or a personal Google account, then you may be automatically signed in to GA using that account. You can check which account you are logged in as by selecting the person icon in the upper right corner of the GA screen. If you are not logged in with the appropriate account, log out of Google Analytics and log back in again. You may need to log out of CalNet as well.

Create a Google Analytics 4 property (new accounts)

If your site does not use Google Analytics already, you need to create a GA4 property.

  1. Sign in to Google Analytics with your CalNet ID and passphrase.
  2. Follow Google’s instructions for setting up a Google Analytics 4 (GA4) property.
    • When creating the property, un-check all the boxes under "Data Sharing Settings” (i.e., Google Products & Services, Benchmarking, etc.).
    • Verify that the data retention period is set to 2 months or less.

Create a Google Analytics 4 property (existing accounts using Universal Analytics)

If your site is already using Google Analytics, you may have a Universal Analytics (UA) property. If you have not already done so, you should create a GA4 property.

  1. Sign in to Google Analytics with your CalNet ID and passphrase.
  2. Follow Google’s instructions to convert your UA property into a new GA4 property.
    • When creating the property, un-check all the boxes under "Data Sharing Settings” (i.e., Google Products & Services, Benchmarking, etc.).
    • Verify that the data retention period is set to 2 months or less.

Find your Measurement ID

In order to activate Google Analytics on your Open Berkeley site, you will need to know your GA4 Measurement ID. If you are also using Universal Analytics, you will need to know your Universal Analytics measurement ID as well.

  1. Find your GA4 Measurement ID: The measurement ID is an alphanumeric string that begins with “G-”. It can be found at Admin -> [Property name] -> Data Streams -> Web -> Measurement ID.
  2. Find your Universal Analytics measurement ID: The UA Tracking ID is a numeric string that begins with “UA-.” It can be found at Admin -> Property Settings for the UA property.

Request activation of Google Analytics on your Open Berkeley site

  1. Find your GA4 Measurement ID, and your UA Measurement ID if using.
  2. The person who created the GA account, or someone who has administrator access to it, should fill out the Google Analytics Account Manager form. This person will need to provide all of the information and agree to the privacy terms and conditions.

Add/manage users

  1. Determine which email accounts should have access to your Google Analytics property and which level of permissions they should have.
    • Web Platform Services strongly recommends adding a departmental or SPA email account as an administrator, in order to maintain access in case of staff turnover. If you lose access to your GA account, the only recovery option would be to create a new account.
  2. Follow Google’s instructions for adding/managing users.

Transfer user accounts from UA property to GA4 property

If you have a Google Analytics “Universal Analytics” (UA) property that Google will be retiring in 2023, you will need to give the appropriate account access so that other members of your team can access data on the GA4 property. Users who have access to a Universal Analytics property do not automatically get access to GA4 properties.

  1. Sign in to Google Analytics with your CalNet ID and passphrase.
  2. Select “Admin” in the bottom left corner.
  3. Select the UA property from the dropdown under “Property” in the Admin interface, then select “Property Access Management” in the “Property” section. A list of names and email addresses will show up. Some users may have permissions at different levels (Account or View).
  4. Review the users who have access at various levels. Remove any users who are not current, and if necessary, adjust the access level for other users.
  5. Make a note of the email addresses of users who should have access to the GA4 property (e.g., copy their email addresses into a separate document).
  6. Select the GA4 property from the dropdown under “Property” in the Admin interface, then select either “Account Access Management” in the “Account” section or “Property Access Management” in the “Property” section.
    • Your selection of either “Account” or “Property” access management will depend on which level of permissions you’d like others on your team to have. See Google’s documentation about access and data-restriction management for details.
  7. Add the email addresses to either the Account or Property, following Google’s instructions.