Preserving INCOMPAS's Universal Analytics History in Looker Studio

01// The broken state

INCOMPAS, the Internet and Competitive Networks Association, needed to preserve its Universal Analytics history before moving to GA4. The requirement was a complete backup of analytics data spanning 2020 to 2023 (6.18 MB in total), so that historical insights would remain available for decision-making after the platform transition.

02// What we changed

1. aDesigned and built a Looker Studio report to back up the essential Universal Analytics data and present it as clear visualizations.
2. bBuilt an Audience section covering scorecards (New Users, Users, Sessions, Page Views, Pages per Session, Average Session Duration, Bounce Rate), Users vs. New Users and session time-series, a Page Views vs. Pages per Session comparison, technical breakdowns (browser, OS, screen resolution, device category), and 1/7/14/28/30-day active users.
3. cBuilt a Behavior section with Page Views, Unique Page Views and Average Time on Page scorecards, Page Views vs. Unique Page Views and Bounce Rate vs. Exit Percentage charts, and tables for Top Pages, Landing Pages, and Exit Pages.
4. dBuilt an Acquisition section with a traffic-channel breakdown and a detailed table covering Channel Group, Source/Medium, Campaign, and Referrer with drill-down.
5. eAdded flexible date-range selection, dimension filters, and customizable views so the archive stays easy to query and update over time.

03// The outcome

Before INCOMPAS retired Universal Analytics, four years of historical data (2020-2023) were preserved in a single Looker Studio report sized at 6.18 MB. Audience, behavior, and acquisition views remain accessible for reporting, so no historical insight was lost in the move to GA4.