TTDVLK01: Looker Basics: Quick Start to Analyzing and Visualizing Data using Looker
About this Course
Looker Basics: Quick Start to Analyzing and Visualizing Data using Looker is a one day, hands-on course designed to equip professionals from a variety of backgrounds with the knowledge and skills needed to harness the full potential of their data using Looker’s powerful platform. With the guidance of our expert trainers, you will gain a basic understanding of Looker’s features, enabling you to create visually engaging, interactive, and insightful reports and dashboards to drive informed decision-making.
Throughout this interactive workshop, you will explore Looker’s key functionalities, including connecting to data sources, mastering LookML, building custom Explores, and designing captivating dashboards. With about 40% of the course dedicated to hands-on labs and a guided project, you will have ample opportunity to apply the skills you’ve learned in real-world scenarios. Don’t miss this opportunity to elevate your data analysis and visualization capabilities, enhance your professional skill set, and unlock the power of data-driven decision-making.
Audience Profile
The audience for this course includes professionals who are new to Looker who are interested in leveraging Looker for data analysis, visualization, and reporting. The course is designed for individuals seeking to gain a comprehensive understanding of Looker's functionalities and apply these skills in their organizations to drive data-driven decision-making.
At Course Completion
This course combines expert lecture, real-world demonstrations and group discussions with machine-based practical labs and exercises. Working in a hands-on learning environment led by our expert facilitator, you’ll explore and gain:
· Solid foundation in Looker's platform: Acquire a comprehensive understanding of Looker's key features, functionality, and interface, enabling you to effectively utilize the platform for your data analysis and visualization needs.
· Proficiency in LookML and data modeling: Develop essential skills in Looker's unique data modeling language, LookML, to create efficient and customized data models tailored to your organization's specific requirements.
· Expertise in creating Explores: Learn how to build, customize, and save Explores with dimensions, measures, filters, and calculated fields, empowering you to analyze your data and uncover valuable insights in a short amount of time.
· Mastery of dashboard design and visualization: Gain the skills to design visually appealing and informative dashboards, create various types of visualizations, and customize them to effectively communicate your data story.
· Improved content organization with folders and boards: Understand how to effectively use folders and boards in Looker to organize, manage, and discover content, making your data insights easily accessible for you and your team.
Outline
1. Getting Started with Looker
· Overview of Looker and its key features
· Navigating the Looker interface
2. Connecting to Data Sources and LookML Basics
· Setting up and managing data connections
· Exploring database schemas
· Understanding LookML: Looker's data modeling language
· Lab: Practice setting up data connections and writing basic LookML code
3. Creating and Customizing Explores
· Building and customizing Explores
· Adding dimensions, measures, and filters
· Creating calculated fields
· Lab: Create an Explore from scratch, adding dimensions, measures, filters, and calculated fields
4. Data Visualization and Dashboard Design
· Creating visualizations using Looker's visualization library
· Customizing chart types, colors, and labels
· Displaying visualizations in dashboards
· Lab: Develop a variety of visualizations and assemble them into an interactive dashboard
5. Organizing Content with Folders and Boards
· Introduction to folders and boards in Looker
· Creating and managing folders for organizing content
· Setting up boards for easy content discovery
· Lab: Set up and manage folders and boards for content organization and discoverability
6. Hands-on Workshop and Project
· Participants work on a guided project to apply the skills learned
· Lab: Apply data analysis, visualization, and organization techniques in a real-world scenario
7. Summary & Continued Learning Resources review
Prerequisites
To ensure a smooth learning experience and maximize the benefits of attending this course, you should have the following prerequisite skills:
· Basic computer literacy: Participants should be comfortable using computers and navigating software applications, as well as basic file management and organization.
· Fundamental understanding of data concepts: Attendees should have a basic understanding of data concepts such as tables, columns, rows, data types, and primary/foreign keys.
· Familiarity with databases (optional): While not required, having a basic understanding of relational databases and some experience with SQL will be helpful for grasping certain concepts in Looker.
· Basic spreadsheet skills: Attendees should be comfortable working with spreadsheets (e.g., Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets) for data manipulation, filtering, and sorting.
· Foundational knowledge of data visualization: Participants should be familiar with common chart types and their use cases (e.g., bar charts, line charts, pie charts, etc.), as well as basic principles of effective data visualization.