What Data Models Need to Change When Migrating to Looker?
As enterprises embrace modern BI platforms, migrating from legacy systems like IBM Cognos to Google Looker has become a key step in transforming their analytics ecosystem. While the benefits—such as faster reporting, cost reduction, and centralized data management—are clear, one critical aspect that determines migration success is the data model transformation. At Squareshift, our certified Looker experts help businesses redesign their data models to fully leverage Looker’s semantic layer and self-service capabilities. Understanding Data Model Transformation in Looker Unlike Cognos, which relies on pre-aggregated reports and static metadata models, Looker uses a semantic modeling layer called LookML . This allows organizations to define reusable logic for metrics, joins, and data relationships directly in code. When migrating, companies need to revisit their: Data structures – Flatten overly complex hierarchies and ensure compatibility with SQL-based data warehouses. Relationships and...