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This guide describes the steps you need to complete before you can connect to SegmentStream AI. By following these steps now, you will be ready to get started as soon as access is granted to you.

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Overview

To use SegmentStream AI, you need:
  1. A Google Cloud project with BigQuery enabled and billing set up.
  2. A GA4 BigQuery export configured to send event data to your BigQuery project.

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Step 1. Prepare your Google Cloud project

Follow the steps below to make sure your Google Cloud project is ready.

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1.1 Create a Google Cloud Platform account

BigQuery is a part of Google Cloud Platform. To use BigQuery you need to have a Google Cloud Platform account.
1

Navigate to Google Cloud Platform

Go to the Google Cloud Platform page and click Get started for free.Google Cloud Platform get started
2

Log in to your Google Account

Log in to your Google Account.
3

Complete registration

Fill in the registration form. Provide valid payment details — it’s important, as you need an account with an active payment method to use BigQuery.

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1.2 Set up a billing account

To use BigQuery you need an active billing account so that you’ll be able to use Google Cloud Platform resources. Free Tier Google Cloud accounts don’t support some BigQuery services which are required.

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Upgrading a Free Tier account

Go to the main page of your Google Cloud Platform project and click ACTIVATE FULL ACCOUNT. Activate full account More information on upgrading your account can be found here.

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Checking billing account status

If you don’t have an ACTIVATE FULL ACCOUNT button on the main project page, check that you have an active billing account with a valid payment method:
1

Go to billing

Go to the Google Cloud Platform Billing page.
2

Check billing accounts

Check that you have at least one billing account with active status.Billing accounts
3

Link billing to project

Click on MY PROJECTS, and confirm that the billing account is linked to your project. If it isn’t linked, click the “more icon” then Change billing to link an active billing account.Billing my projects
4

Verify account status

Click on the account name and follow instructions to set the status to active if it is different.Billing account status
5

Validate payment info

Validate your payment info (1) and check that you don’t have any critical (red) billing health check issues (2).Billing health check
If you experience an issue with setting up a billing account consult the documentation on billing accounts.

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1.3 Create a Google Cloud project

1

Navigate to Manage resources

Navigate to the Manage resources page in the Google Cloud console.
2

Select organisation

On the Select organisation drop-down list at the top of the page, select the organisation resource in which you want to create a project. If you are a free trial user, skip this step, as this list does not appear.
3

Create the project

Click Create Project. In the New Project window that appears, enter a project name and select a billing account as applicable.
4

Set parent organisation

Enter the parent organisation or folder resource in the Location box. That resource will be the hierarchical parent of the new project. If No organisation is an option, you can select it to create your new project as the top level of its own resource hierarchy.
5

Finish creation

When you’re finished entering new project details, click Create.

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Step 2. Set up GA4 BigQuery export

Once your Google Cloud project is ready, you need to link your Google Analytics 4 property to BigQuery so that event data is exported automatically. This process must be completed by a user with Owner access to the Google Cloud project. The Owner role is assigned to the user who created the project, but you can also grant this permission through the Google Cloud Project IAM page.
1

Select your GA4 property

Go to Google Analytics 4 and select the property where your data is collected.
2

Open Admin settings

Click on the Admin button.
3

Navigate to BigQuery links

In the Product Links section, click BigQuery links.GA4 BigQuery links page
4

Configure the BigQuery link

  1. Click Link > Choose a BigQuery project.
  2. Select the BigQuery project you created in Step 1.
  3. Select the Data location that matches your business’s region.
  4. Enable both the Daily and Streaming export types.
  5. Make sure no events are excluded.
  6. Click Submit. GA4 BigQuery link setup
We recommend enabling both the Daily and Streaming (best-effort) export types. The daily export provides a complete dataset once per day, while the streaming export ensures near real-time data availability.

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2.2 Verify the export

Once the GA4 BigQuery link is set up, data should start flowing to your BigQuery project within 24 hours. You can verify this by checking your BigQuery project for newly created GA4 event tables.

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What’s next

Once you have completed the steps above, your environment is fully prepared. When you receive access to SegmentStream AI, you will be able to connect right away without any additional setup on the Google Cloud or GA4 side.