In this post I’ll give an example of how to create a simple Forecast Parameter in Google Data Studio, which recently added Parameters to their product. This is a big improvement, and I’m still figuring out how to use them properly.

Below is a video showing how to use the forecasting parameter to adjust values.

You can read the Google documentation about Parameters at this link.

I’m basing this blog post off of their method of setting up a forecast parameter. I’ll give an example of how you can use Google Analytics data via the Extract data connector.

Step 1: Extract Data from Google Analytics

So I wanted to create a Sessions forecast parameter, but I couldn’t use the Sessions metric directly from the Google Analytics connector.

So I used the Extract Data Connector and it worked just fine.

I used three dimensions (Country, Default Channel Grouping, Date) and Sessions as the only metric.

Make sure Auto-Update is ticked and Click ‘Save and Extract’.

Step 2: Create a Parameter

The next step is to create a parameter.

To do this you will need to click Resource and then Managed added data sources.

Open up your data source and select Edit.

Once you have your data source open you will then see the option to ‘ADD A PARAMETER’. Click this to get started.

This parameter will allow us to input in any number to forecast the number of sessions.

To create our parameter set it up in the following way.

Parameter name = Session forecast multiplier
Parameter ID = session_forecast_multiplier
Data type = Number
Permitted values = Any value
Default value = 1

You can see how to set it up in the image below.

Step 3: Create a calculated field

This calculated field with multiply the number of sessions by the parameter value.

So in the calculated field we enter; Sessions * Session forecast multiplier.

We can name it ‘Session forecast with parameter’.

Once we’ve finished our data should look like this. Technically sessions and the Sessions forecast with parameter should be metrics but it seems to work fine.

Step 4: Add an Input Box Control based with the Parameter as the Control Field to your Data Studio report

So it kick things off click on ‘Add a control’ in the menu. Then select the type ‘Input box’.

In the data tab for your input box choose the parameter ‘Session forecast multiplier’ as the Control field.

Step 5: Create some Charts with Sessions and the Sessions Forecast with parameter fields

So the next step is to make a few charts that use the Sessions metric and the Sessions Forecast with parameter metric.

Below I’ve added two scorecards and a chart. For the chart dimensions I’ve included Default Channel Grouping and Country as two dimensions in it.

Step 6: Using the Parameter to adjust the forecast value

So the purpose of this parameter is to see what sessions would look like if they increased by a certain amount.

So the default value is 1, which would mean sessions stayed the same. If we changed the value to 2 the number of sessions would triple, if we changed the value to 3 they would triple and so on.

Below is the actual Data Studio report which you can play around with to see how the parameter and input control box work.

My Other Blog Posts

I hope you found this post useful and interesting. You might enjoy some of my other blog posts.