Looker is a cloud-based analytics platform that helps businesses explore and understand their data. Looker Studio is Looker’s newest product, launching in beta in August 2018. It’s an end-to-end user experience platform designed to give your business the tools you need to build beautiful and intuitive apps with data from your Looker account. Looker Studio makes it easy to build new apps and provides pre-built templates for different types of apps (i.e. Data Card, Dashboard, or Analysis). Let’s look at how to use the Looker Studio template - a step-by-step guide.
What is a Looker Studio Template?
A Looker Studio template is a pre-built app in the Looker Studio app builder. Every template contains the structure of your data source, a selected visualization, and the ability to add actions. Looker Studio templates include data card, dashboard, and analysis. Data Card Templates - Data cards are easy to visualize your data with minimal effort and one click. You can visualize your structured data, like sales, operational, customer, etc. They are typically used to show key metrics and provide context to an audience. Dashboard Templates - Dashboards are an easy way to visualize your data. You can visualize your structured data, like sales, operational, customer, etc. They are typically used to show the status of key metrics for a team or customer, like onboarding or retention. Analysis Templates - Analysis allows you to combine data from multiple data sources and ask questions. It is typically used to explore and gain new insights from your data.
Creating Your First Looker Studio App
To create a new app with a Looker Studio template, you must first log in to Looker Studio. After you log in, select New App and the template you want to start with. You can select from the data card, dashboard, or analysis template. After you select your template, you will be prompted to select a data source and see a preview of your app. You can then click Create to create your app. When you create your app, you can edit the data source, add additional visualizations, and add actions. Let’s go through each of this one by one. Data Source - You can edit the structure of your data source to add additional fields or remove unnecessary fields. You can also select a sub-source if your data comes from more than one data source. Visualizations - You can add additional visualizations to your app to help tell your story. Visualizations are the graphical representations of your data. They include charts, graphs, tables, and other visuals that help tell your story. You can select from various visualizations, change the look and feel, or add additional data to the visualization. Actions - Actions can be added to your app to enable your audience to interact with your app in different ways. Actions allow your audience to edit data, perform calculations, or even navigate to other places in your app. You can add three actions to your app: buttons, alerts, and links.
Change the Data Source and Structure of a Looker Studio Template
When you change the data source and structure of a Looker Studio template, you are essentially changing the underlying data of your app. This is helpful if your app is a demo app and you want to change the data. Let’s look at how to change a Looker Studio template's data source and structure. First, you will want to select the data source tab on the right side of your app. Next, select Change Data Source and the new data source you want to use. Now, select the structure tab and the structure you want to use. This will add new fields to your app.
Add Visualizations to a Looker Studio Template
You can add additional visualizations to the visualizations tab in the template. This is helpful if you want to add a visualization that the default template does not have. Let’s look at how to add visualizations to a Looker Studio template. Select the Visualizations tab at the top of your app to add a visualization. From here, select the visualization you want to add. You can change the visualization's dimensions, color, metric, or metric position by clicking the edit button. You can also add a new visualization by clicking on the plus button at the top of your app.
Add Actions to a Looker Studio Template
You can add actions to your app to help tell your story. Actions include buttons, alerts, and links. Let’s look at how to add actions to a Looker Studio template. Button - To add a button to your app, select the Buttons tab at the top of your app. Click on the plus button at the top of your app, and select the type of button you want to add (i.e. navigation, edit data, calculate). You can also change the name and color of your button, and add a URL for your button. Alert - To add an alert to your app, select the Alerts tab at the top of your app. You can change the title, copy, and sound of your alert. You can also add a URL for your alert. Link - To add a link to your app, select the Links tab at the top of your app. You can change the title and URL of your link. You can also select if you want to open the link in a new window or the same window.