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High-level Guide (Looker to Holistics)

Overview​

This guide provides a high-level overview of migrating from Looker to Holistics, covering project organization and the step-by-step migration process.

Concept Mapping​

LookerHolistics
View (.view)Model (.model.aml)
Model (.model)Collection of Dataset (.dataset.aml)
DimensionDimension
MeasureMeasure or Metric
ExploreDataset (.dataset.aml)

Project Structure​

In Holistics, we organize analytics code into a clear folder structure:

📁 project/
  📁 models/              # Similar to Looker views
    📁 tables/           # Table-based models
      📄 orders.model.aml
      📄 users.model.aml
    📁 queries/          # Derived table models
      📄 active_users.model.aml
      
  📁 datasets/           # Similar to Looker explores
    📄 ecommerce.dataset.aml
    📄 marketing.dataset.aml
    
  📁 dashboards/         # Dashboard definitions
    📄 sales.page.aml
    📄 performance.page.aml

For more details on project organization, see our Project Structure documentation.

Migration Steps​

High-level Flow

  1. Prepare Your Environment

  2. Migration Views, Models, and Explores

  3. Migrate Dashboards

    • Migrate dashboards (will update later)

1. Prepare Your Environment​

  1. Set up your Holistics project
  2. Configure your data sources
  3. Plan your model and dataset organization

2. Migrate Views to Models​

In Looker, business logic starts with Views (.view files):

# orders.view.lkml
view: orders {
  sql_table_name: public.orders ;;
  
  dimension: order_id {
    primary_key: yes
    sql: ${TABLE}.id ;;
  }
  
  measure: total_amount {
    type: sum
    sql: ${amount} ;;
  }
}

In Holistics, this becomes a Model (.model.aml file):

// models/tables/orders.model.aml
Model orders {
  type: 'table'
  data_source_name: 'warehouse'
  table_name: 'public.orders'
  
  dimension order_id {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @sql {{ #SOURCE.id }};;
  }
  
  measure total_amount {
    type: 'number'
    definition: @sql sum({{ amount }});;
  }
}

Follow the Views Migration Guide for detailed steps.

3. Migrate Models and Explores to Datasets​

In Looker, explores are defined in model files that join multiple views:

# ecommerce.model.lkml
connection: "warehouse"

explore: orders {
  join: users {
    sql_on: ${orders.user_id} = ${users.id} ;;
    relationship: many_to_one
  }
  join: products {
    sql_on: ${orders.product_id} = ${products.id} ;;
    relationship: many_to_one
  }
}

In Holistics, this becomes a Dataset that combines multiple models:

// datasets/ecommerce.dataset.aml
Dataset ecommerce {
  models: [orders, users, products]
  
  relationships: [
    relationship(orders.user_id > users.id, true),
    relationship(orders.product_id > products.id, true)
  ]
}

Follow the Model Migration Guide and Explore Migration Guide for details.

4. Configure Access Control​

In Looker, access control is defined in LookML:

access_grant: sales_team {
  user_attribute: department
  allowed_values: ["sales"]
}

In Holistics, permissions are managed through the UI:

See our Permission System documentation for details.

5. Migrate Dashboards​

After your models and datasets are set up:

  1. Recreate your Looker dashboards in Holistics
  2. Configure drill-downs and actions

Additional Resources​

Let us know what you think about this document :)