There are several ways you can manage your storage consumption in Supermetrics Storage effectively, ensuring your reporting continues smoothly. You can optimize your storage use to stay within your limits, or you can upgrade your storage capacity to the next level if you need more space. There are several strategies to help with keeping your Supermetrics Storage usage within limits.
1. Connect data sources directly to your reporting tools
Not all data needs to be stored. For reports that don't require historical data warehousing or can tolerate slightly longer refresh times, consider connecting the data sources directly to your reporting tool. Check from the Supermetrics Hub which reporting tool is included in your subscription.
Live connections from the reporting tool to the data source fetch data directly from the source each time the report is opened or refreshed. As these live connections don't use your Supermetrics Storage, this is an excellent way to reduce your storage footprint while still having fully automated reports.
2. Optimize your transfers and table structures
Review the transfers you have built to send data to your Supermetrics Storage. The structure of your tables and the frequency of your transfers add up to the amount of data stored and processed.
- Reduce table size by limiting dimensions: One of the most effective ways to reduce the amount of data processed and stored is by minimizing the number of dimensionsin your tables. Each dimension adds to the table's overall size. Evaluate if all currently included dimensions are essential for your stored data.
- You can use the Table Manager to edit your existing tables to remove unnecessary dimensions or to create new, more streamlined tables. Smaller, more focused tables will consume less storage.
- Once you’ve tweaked your tables, run a backfill to replace the tables in Supermetrics storage
- Prioritize essential data transfers: Identify which data sources and reports are critical to store and which are not. You might find reports that are no longer needed or would run well with live connections. Live connections work well when the queried date range is relatively short and the created query is not super detailed, for example. Once you’ve identified the reports, here’s what to do next:
- Pause or delete transfers that are no longer active to stop unnecessary data accumulation in your storage
- Connect reports with a short date range or fewer dimensions directly in your reporting tool included in your subscription.
3. Optimize your dashboards
The queries sent to your Supermetrics Storage, often originating from visualization and BI tools like Looker Studio, play a role in how your data is processed. Inefficient querying can lead to slower dashboard loads and unnecessary data processing.
- Simplify Looker Studio dashboards: The more charts, tables, scorecards, and other elements you have, the more queries get sent when the dashboard loads. If your dashboard has a lot of elements, it will take more analysis capacity from the storage, making you reach the limit faster.
- Consider splitting complex dashboards into multiple, more focused reports.
- Evaluate if every element on a dashboard is essential. Removing or consolidating elements can reduce the query load.
- Optimize report queries: Make sure your reports are pulling only the data you need. Avoid pulling everything (like using "SELECT *") if you only need a few columns. This helps preserve the storage’s analysis capacity and stay within the limits included in your subscription, especially for the data sources feeding into Looker Studio.
- Consolidate data sources in Looker Studio: If you're using similar data for different charts, try combining them into one optimized configuration. This avoids making extra queries.
- Be mindful of filters and date ranges: If you're using really broad date ranges or complicated filters in Looker Studio, it can end up pulling a lot more data than you need.
4. Request help from our support team to delete unnecessary tables
Over time, you might end up with tables in your storage that you no longer need (like old test data, duplicates, or stuff from past projects). Our support team is here to help you spot these unnecessary tables and delete them, freeing up space. Just reach out, and we'll guide you through it.
Consider an upgrade for your growing needs
If you’re consistently hitting your Supermetrics Storage limits, even after making optimizations, or if you need to store or query even more data, it might be time to consider upgrading your storage.
An upgrade gives you:
- More space: Store more data and historical records.
- More flexibility: Worry less about limits and focus on using your data.
- Support for growth: Make sure your reporting system can grow with your business.
We're happy to discuss your current usage and explore options that could provide you with more capacity and flexibility moving forward.
Feel free to contact our support team anytime if you have questions or need help with your Supermetrics Storage.