Try it: track your data platform setup

This is the working version of our data platform tutorial's checklist. Pick your sharing branch, check off each step as you finish it, and your progress saves in this browser. The actual build happens in your own Google Cloud console — this page keeps you honest about finishing it.

Your branch (step 3 of the tutorial)

Who is the data for? Branch one: staff dashboards
Staff only — dashboards and plain-English answers on your own numbers. Branch two: member data sharing
Members, reading — chapters see curated data without copying it. Branch three: the member platform
Members, using — an app members open, like a data explorer or benchmarking tool.

Your pick customizes step 4 below. The branches keep, so one never blocks the others.

The build checklist

0 of 6 steps complete

1. Create the Cloud project. Association Workspace account, never a personal Gmail. Project Creator role. Name it 4–30 characters for your successor. Billing "as applicable". 2. Choose your on-ramp and record why. Sandbox: no card, 10 GiB lifetime storage, 60-day expiry — the practice room. Billing-enabled: card on file, everything unlocked — required for the GA4 export and data agents. 3. Pick one branch. Answer "who is the data for" with the picker above. Finish one branch before expanding. 4. Build the branch. Pick a branch above to see its build steps here. 5. Run the result check. Project on the association's account; choice recorded; one branch finished; a second Owner on the project; exports reviewed. 6. Review the five mistakes. Personal-Gmail project; building all three branches at once; sandbox as production; sharing the raw dataset instead of a listing; API key pasted into frontend code.

What you just tracked

The checklist above mirrors the tutorial's seven steps: create the project, choose the sandbox or billing on-ramp, pick one of three sharing branches, build it, run the result check, and avoid the five mistakes. The tutorial has the reasoning, the sources, and the filled-in teaching example this page is based on. Read the tutorial.

Download the starter kit

The checklist above lives in your browser. The starter kit is what you take to the real work: the setup checklist and the branch-decision worksheet as printable PDFs, plus a README. Free with your email — that's how we keep the lights on.