Looker Interview Questions

1. What do you know about business intelligence?

Business intelligence is a sum of strategies that an employer uses to evaluate records. Businesses, small and large, carry out various processes or transactions, which will result in creating humongous data. The data contains important information that could help develop business. That is where the Business Intelligence tools come into the picture and help us examine data in significant ways.

Processing the data in time and precise reporting improves the capacity to make more informed plus data-driven decisions.

2. What is SSIS?

SSIS is abbreviated as SQL Server Integration Service. SSIS is a component of the Microsoft SQL Server database used to generate workflows for tasks like data migration.

SSIS is an ETL tool that retrieves data from various sources, then transforms the data and loads the data in different destinations.

3. What are the various categories of data flow?

There are three different categories of data flow they are:

Sources: these sources can be XML files, excel files, Relational database, and flat files, etc.

Transformations: this filters the database over some calculations, modifies the format of data, etc.

Destinations: these destination files can be flat files, XML files, relational database, PDF files, etc.

4. List the cache modes available in looker?

There are three cache modes available in Looker they are:

1. Full reserve mode.
2. Mostly store mode.
3. No reserve mode.

5. Is it possible for the business to use the same resource for Business Intelligence, or do they need experts?

Well, it depends on the type of business. Most of the companies have recognized there is no need for this. The prevailing workforce can simply be trained, and the most desired outcomes can indeed be expected. The fact is it does not take a lot of time to train the employees within this domain. Because BI is a simple strategy, companies can easily keep up the pace in every phase.

6. What are the advantages of Looker?

Data visualization: data is visually present for easy interpretation.

Analytics: information is evaluated and quantified for a portrait of the organization’s trends and future possibilities.

Document management: looker converts reports into different file formats and shares analytical findings.

Integrations: the capacity to connect with other systems gives various functionalities and sources.

“Interested to begin your career in a top business intelligence platform?
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7. Explain the term drilling in data analysis?

It is primarily an approach that is used for examining the details of the data that resembles usefulness. It can also be considered to eradicate all the issues such as copyright and authenticity.

8. Explain pivoting?

Pivoting is a process of switching the data from row to column and vice versa. Pivoting makes sure no data is left on either column or row when the user exchanges the same.

9. What are the important steps in an analytics project?

Few important steps in an analytics project are:

• Data exploration.
• Defining problems and solutions.
• Tracking and implementation of data.
• Data modeling.
• Data validation.
• Data preparation.

10. Does the log have any relation with the packages?

Yes, they are very closely connected with the package deal stage. Even while there is a requirement for the configuration, the same is executed only upon the package deal degree.

11. Explain the term OLPA?

OLPA is abbreviated as On-Line Analytical Processing and a strategy that is used for organizing multidimensional data. Although the principal goal is to analyze data, the applications can also be handled if the same is realized. 

12. List a few tools that we can deploy for Data Analysis?

Few tools that we can deploy for data analysis are:

• Node XL
• RapidMiner
• KNIME
• SOLVER
• Wolfram Alpha
• Tableau
• Fusion Tables by Google

13. Which container within the package is allowed for logging of data to a package log?

Every task or container is allowed to do this. Yet, they are required to be allowed during the primary stage of the operation.

14. What do you know about the term Logistic Regression?

Logistic Regression is an approach recognized for the accurate verification of a dataset that incorporates impartial variables. The verification level depends on how accurately the final results depend on these variables. It is not continually clean to change them once defined.

15. Name a few approaches that we have to consider for the data cleaning?

The first thing that we have to consider is the data size. If the data size is too large, it should be classified into small components. Examining the summary statistics is another approach that we can deploy. Building utility functions are also very beneficial and reliable.

16. What is drill-down analysis?

Drill-down is a capability given by many Business Tools. This helps to view the data in a detailed manner and provides in-depth penetrations. We can drill down over a component within a dashboard or report to get more granular details.

17. What are some common troubleshooting steps for PDTs?

Below are some high-level troubleshooting steps:

• Check the state of the PDT.
• Check the state of the regenerator.
• Check permissions and locking.

18. List the types of Looker blocks?

There are six different types of Looker block they are:

• Source blocks
• Analytic blocks
• Data tools 
• Data blocks
• Viz blocks
• Embedded blocks

19. What do you know about Looker blocks?

Looker Blocks are the pre-built sections of LookML code that quicken the analytics. We can use these looker blocks and customize them for your specifications. They allow us to build flexible and fast analytics.

20. What is the full form of NDTs?

The full form of NDTs is Native Derived Tables. We can create them by defining the explore parameter upon the base table with desired columns.

21. What is the use of the “Rebuild Derived tables and Run” button?

The “Rebuild Derived tables and Run” button is used to initiate a rebuild of all persistent derived tables included in the query. This is also used to start a rebuild of all upstream PDTs.

22. According to you, what are the important qualities that an expert data analyst should possess?

The first and most important skill for an expert data analyst is the right skills to collect, organize, and distribute big data without comprising accuracy. The second most important thing to have is high-level knowledge of the course. Technical expertise in the database domain is also needed in various stages. In addition to this, a data analyst must also have qualities like leadership and patience.

23. What are the methods that can be deployed for data validation?

There are two standard methods that can be deployed for data validation they are:

• Data screening
• Data validation

These two methods are similar but include different applications.

24. What are the common issues within the data that can create trouble for data analysts?

One of the biggest trouble creators is duplicate entries. Although this can be eliminated, there is no complete accuracy possible. This is because the same data is generally available in different sentences or different formats.

The second biggest trouble is a common misspelling. Also, varying values can create a lot of issues. Values that are unlawful, missing, and cannot be recognized can enhance the possibilities of multiple errors and affect the quality up to a great range.

25. What is data cleansing?

Data cleansing is nothing but another name for the data cleaning process. Usually, there are a lot of ways to eliminate the errors and inconsistencies from the datasets. A blend of these approaches is considered data cleansing. The target of all these approaches is to advance the data quality.

26. What is the security difference between Tableau and Looker?

• Tableau gives security to your data at any level.
• In looker, the user has to change the security settings according to their requirements.

27. List the operating systems that Looker supports?

Below are the operating systems that Looker supports:

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux 

28. What is Slicing?

Slicing is a process that always makes sure that the data is at its defined location or position and makes sure there are no errors in the data.

29. What does SQL runner do?

SQL runner gives direct access to your database and supports that access in different ways. SQL runner also creates and explores the queries.

30. What is the cost of Looker?

Looker costs $35/user/month for on-premise deployment and $42/user/month if deployed within the cloud.