Great news from Luka Cempre! One of the recent updates to GA4 exports in BigQuery has introduced changes to the batch parameters. A new "batch_event_index" field has been added to the export schema. The "batch_page_id" and "batch_ordering_id" fields have been moved out of the event_params field, making them more accessible.
Now analysts can precisely identify the order of events within a session. Previously, this was problematic since hits are sent in batches, and the event_timestamp parameter might not have reflected the actual event time. Generating a custom timestamp for each event on the client side was a common practice.
And honestly it's a smart move to remove batch parameters from event_params since parsing this field can significantly impact query costs.
Heads up! Simo Ahava mentioned in his tests that several events within a session had the same batch_event_index, which unfortunately can still cause confusion.
If you work with GA4 to BigQuery exports, be sure to check out my SQL cheat sheet.
