Looker operating model

Overview and diagram view

The Looker scanner collects Looker metadata and sends it to the Collibra Data Lineage service. Collibra processes the metadata and creates new Looker assets and relations in Data Catalog. You can view them on the asset page overview or visualize them in a diagram or in a technical lineage.

Note

The assets have the same names as their counterparts in Looker. Full names and Display names cannot be changed in Data Catalog.
Asset types are only created if you have all specific Looker and Data Catalog permissions.
All Looker asset types are created in the same domain.
Relations that were manually created between Looker assets and other assets via a relation type in the Looker operating model are deleted after a refresh of the Looker metadata.

The following image shows the relations between Looker asset types.

Harvested metadata per asset type

The following table shows the harvested Looker metadata for each Looker asset type.

Asset type	Synchronized metadata	Public ID
Looker Dashboard Public ID: LookerDashboard	Full name
	Display name
	Description	Description
	Document creation date	DocumentCreationDate
	Document last accessed date	DocumentLastAccessedDate
	Favorites count	FavoritesCount
	Owner in source The only harvested metadata are email addresses.	OwnerInSource
	Technical Data Type	TechnicalDataType
	URL	Url
	Visit count	VisitCount
	Business Dimension groups / is grouped into Report	BusinessDimensionGroupsReport
	Report groups / is grouped into Report	ReportGroupsReport
	Report related to / is impacted by Business Asset	ReportRelatedToBusinessAsset
	Report uses / used in Report	ReportUsesReport
Looker Data Set Public ID: LookerDataSet	Full name
	Display name
	Description	Description
	Data Set contains / is part of Data Element	DataSetContainsDataElement
	Technology Asset source system for / source system Data Asset	TechnologyAssetSourceSystemForDataAsset
Looker Data Set Column Public ID: LookerDataSetColumn	Full name
	Display name
	Description	Description
	Data Set contains / is part of Data Element	DataSetContainsDataElement
	Report Attribute sourced from / is source of Data Attribute	ReportAttributeSourcedFromDataAttribute
Looker Folder Public ID: LookerFolder	Full name
	Display name
	Document creation date	DocumentCreationDate
	Owner in source The only harvested metadata are email addresses.	OwnerInSource
	BI Folder assembles / is assembled in BI Folder	BIFolderAssemblesBIFolder
	Business Dimension groups / is grouped into Report	BusinessDimensionGroupsReport
	Server hosts / is hosted in Business Dimension	ServerHostsBusinessDimension
Looker Look Public ID: LookerLook	Full name
	Display name
	Description	Description
	Document creation date	DocumentCreationDate
	Document last accessed date	DocumentLastAccessedDate
	Document modification date	DocumentModificationDate
	Favorites count	FavoritesCount
	Owner in source The only harvested metadata are email addresses.	OwnerInSource
	Report image	ReportImage
	URL	Url
	Visit count	VisitCount
	Business Dimension groups / is grouped into Report	BusinessDimensionGroupsReport
	Report groups / is grouped into Report	ReportGroupsReport
	Report uses / used in Report	ReportUsesReport
Looker Report Attribute Public ID: LookerReportAttribute	Full name
	Display name
	Report Attribute contained in / contains Report	ReportAttributeContainedInReport
	Report Attribute sourced from / is source of Data Attribute	ReportAttributeSourcedFromDataAttribute
Looker Query Public ID: LookerQuery	Full name
	Display name
	URL	Url
	Business Dimension groups / is grouped into Report	BusinessDimensionGroupsReport
	Report Attribute contained in / contains Report	ReportAttributeContainedInReport
	Report uses / used in Report	ReportUsesReport
Looker Tenant Public ID: LookerTenant	Full name
	Display name
	Description	Description
	Server hosts / is hosted in Business Dimension	ServerHostsBusinessDimension
	Technology Asset source system for / source system Data Asset	TechnologyAssetSourceSystemForDataAsset
Looker Tile Public ID: LookerTile	Full name
	Display name
	Business Dimension groups / is grouped into Report	BusinessDimensionGroupsReport
	Report uses / used in Report	ReportUsesReport

Note The metadata that is shown on the assets' pages depends on the asset type's assignment. As a result, you might not see all harvested metadata on the asset's page by default.

Additional information

For the Owner in source attribute, the following rules apply:

If the system creates a Looker data object and the Looker data object does not have a user ID, the Owner in source attribute is shown as System on the asset page.
If the user who created a Looker data object no longer exists, the Owner in source attribute is shown as empty on the asset page.

Example of ingested Looker metadata

The following image shows an example structure after Looker ingestion.

Recommended hierarchy within a domain

You can enable hierarchies for the domain in which your Looker assets were ingested. Doing so makes it easier to understand the relation between your Looker assets, when viewing the assets on the domain page.

Follow these steps to enable and configure the recommended hierarchy.

Steps

Open the domain page of the relevant BI Catalog domain.
On the content toolbar, click .
The Configure Hierarchy dialog box appears.
Select Enable Hierarchy.
Select Multipath.
Start typing and select each of the following relation types:
- Server hosts Business Dimension
- Business Dimension groups Report
- Report contains Report Attribute
- Technology Asset source system for Data Asset
- Data Set contains Data Element
- Data Attribute is source of Report Attribute
Click Apply.

Note

In an asset view, if any asset is deleted, for example via synchronization or manual deletion, the view is recreated and the hierarchy is lost. In this case, you can again enable and configure the recommended hierarchy.
When viewing the hierarchy for a community or domain, if the parent of a node that is in the community or domain belongs to a different community or domain, that node is not shown in the hierarchy.

Create a Looker operating model diagram view

You can create a Looker-specific diagram view, to visualize the operating model. The following procedure provides instruction on how to quickly create a new diagram view by copying and pasting the JSON code in the diagram view text editor.

Steps

Open the asset page.
Click the Diagram tab.
The diagram is shown in the default diagram view.
Click to add a new view.
Select the Text option below the diagram view name.
The diagram view text editor is shown.
Copy the code from the Show JSON code section below and paste it in the diagram view text editor.
Click Save.
Edit the name and description of the diagram view as needed.

Show JSON code

Copy

{
    "nodes": [
        {
            "id": "Looker Tenant",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000011"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Folder",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000012"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Look",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000014"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Dashboard",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000013"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Query",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000016"
            },
            "layoutRegion": "flow"
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Tile",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000015"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Data Set",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000017"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Data Set Column",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000018"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Looker Report Attribute",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-100000000019"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Column",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000031008"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Table",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000031007"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Schema",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0001-000400000002"
            }
        },
        {
            "id": "Database",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000031006"
            }
        }
    ],
    "edges": [
        {
            "from": "Looker Tenant",
            "to": "Looker Folder",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000000"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Folder",
            "to": "Looker Query",
            "label": "",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000002"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Folder",
            "to": "Looker Look",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000002"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Folder",
            "to": "Looker Dashboard",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000002"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Folder",
            "to": "Looker Tile",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000002"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Query",
            "to": "Looker Look",
            "label": "",
            "style": "boxing",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000004"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Dashboard",
            "to": "Looker Tile",
            "label": "",
            "style": "boxing",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000004"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Dashboard",
            "to": "Looker Look",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000007"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Query",
            "to": "Looker Tile",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000007"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Folder",
            "to": "Looker Folder",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000001"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Tenant",
            "to": "Looker Data Set",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007050"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Data Set",
            "to": "Looker Data Set Column",
            "label": "",
            "style": "boxing",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007062"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Data Set Column",
            "to": "Looker Report Attribute",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000010"
            },
            "roleDirection": false
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Query",
            "to": "Looker Report Attribute",
            "label": "",
            "style": "boxing",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007058"
            },
            "roleDirection": false
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Report Attribute",
            "to": "Looker Report Attribute",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-120000000008"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Looker Report Attribute",
            "to": "Column",
            "label": "",
            "style": "arrow",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007069"
            },
            "roleDirection": false
        },
        {
            "from": "Column",
            "to": "Table",
            "label": "",
            "style": "boxed",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007042"
            },
            "roleDirection": true
        },
        {
            "from": "Table",
            "to": "Schema",
            "label": "",
            "style": "boxed",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007043"
            },
            "roleDirection": false
        },
        {
            "from": "Schema",
            "to": "Database",
            "label": "",
            "style": "boxed",
            "type": {
                "id": "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007024"
            },
            "roleDirection": false
        }
    ],
    "showOverview": false,
    "enableFilters": true,
    "showLabels": true,
    "showFields": true,
    "showLegend": true,
    "showPreview": true,
    "visitStrategy": "directed",
    "layout": "HierarchyLeftRight",
    "maxNodeLabelLength": 50,
    "maxEdgeLabelLength": 30,
    "layoutOptions": {
        "compactGroups": false,
        "componentArrangementPolicy": "topmost",
        "edgeBends": true,
        "edgeBundling": true,
        "edgeToEdgeDistance": 5,
        "minimumLayerDistance": "auto",
        "nodeToEdgeDistance": 5,
        "orthogonalRouting": true,
        "preciseNodeHeightCalculation": true,
        "recursiveGroupLayering": true,
        "separateLayers": true,
        "webWorkers": true,
        "nodePlacer": {
            "barycenterMode": true,
            "breakLongSegments": true,
            "groupCompactionStrategy": "none",
            "nodeCompaction": false,
            "straightenEdges": true
        }
    }
}