analytics-dictionary / term / data infrastructure

Semi-structured data

Semi-structured data has a flexible shape, like JSON, rather than fixed rows and columns.

Written by Reflective Data experts · updated Oct 5, 2026

Event data from analytics tools and APIs is often nested JSON. Modern warehouses can store and query it directly, with functions to flatten arrays and extract fields.

GA4 exports in BigQuery use nested and repeated fields, which need unnesting to analyse.

Data modeling GA4 BigQuery export Schema

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Data lineage

Data lineage shows where data comes from and how it is transformed on its way to…

google-analytics-parallel-tracking.md

Google Analytics Parallel Tracking

Parallel Tracking sends a second copy of your GA4 hits to your own data pipeline, so…

role-based-access-control.md

Role-based access control (RBAC)

RBAC gives people access to data and tools based on their role, rather than granting permissions…

sql.md

SQL

SQL is the standard language for querying and managing data in relational databases and warehouses.

aws.md

Amazon Web Services (AWS)

AWS is Amazon cloud platform, offering storage, compute and data services such as S3 and Redshift.

fivetran.md

Fivetran

Fivetran is a managed ELT service with connectors for many SaaS tools and databases.

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