Looker is a business intelligence (BI) and data analytics platform that provides organizations with the tools to explore, visualize, and analyze their data. A Looker dashboard refers to a customizable, web-based interface within the Looker platform that displays visualizations, metrics, and data insights in a consolidated and user-friendly manner.
A Looker dashboard is typically created by a business analyst or data professional who configures the dashboard layout, selects relevant data sources, and designs visualizations to address specific business needs or metrics. These dashboards can be shared with other users within the organization, allowing them to access and interact with the data visualizations and gain insights without needing in-depth knowledge of data analysis or querying languages.
Looker dashboards offer various visualization options such as charts, tables, maps, and filters, allowing users to explore and drill down into data at different levels of detail. Users can interact with the dashboard by applying filters, changing parameters, and selecting specific dimensions or metrics of interest to uncover trends, patterns, or anomalies within their data. We have the perfect professional Looker Training for you. Enroll now!
How Does It Works?
Looker Dashboards work by connecting to data sources, retrieving and processing data, and presenting it in a visually appealing and interactive format. Here is a general overview of how Looker Dashboards work:
-
Data Modeling: Before creating a dashboard, Looker requires data modeling, which involves connecting to various data sources such as databases, data warehouses, or cloud services. Looker uses its modeling language called LookML to define the relationships between different data tables, create dimensions and measures, and specify data transformations.
-
Querying and Aggregating Data: When a user interacts with a Looker Dashboard, it sends a query to the Looker server. Looker translates the user's query into SQL or the appropriate query language for the data source. The server retrieves the data from the connected data sources, applies any necessary calculations or aggregations, and processes the results.
-
Visualizations and Layout: Looker Dashboards provide a flexible and customizable interface for arranging data visualizations, such as charts, graphs, tables, and maps. Users can drag and drop visualizations onto the dashboard canvas, resize and rearrange them as needed, and apply formatting options to enhance their appearance.
-
Interactivity and Filtering: Looker Dashboards allow users to interact with the visualizations by applying filters, selecting specific dimensions or measures, and adjusting parameters. Users can drill down into the data, change the time range, filter by categories, or slice the data in various ways to explore different perspectives or answer specific questions.
-
Sharing and Collaboration: Looker Dashboards are designed for collaboration and sharing insights within an organization. Users can share dashboards with colleagues or teams, set permissions to control who can view or edit the dashboard, and even embed dashboards in other applications or websites.
-
Real-Time Data Updates: Looker Dashboards can be configured to refresh data at regular intervals, ensuring that users always have access to the latest information. Depending on the data source and setup, Looker can pull real-time or near real-time data updates to provide users with the most current insights.
Overall, Looker Dashboards provide an intuitive and interactive interface for data exploration and analysis, enabling users to gain insights, monitor key metrics, and make data-driven decisions. The platform's flexibility, interactivity, and collaboration features make it a powerful tool for data visualization and reporting in organizations.