BigQuery is a powerful and scalable data warehousing solution from Google Cloud that enables organizations to store, process, and analyze large amounts of data. When working with BigQuery, it is important to provide clear and concise descriptions for your tables to help others understand the purpose and contents of your data.
In this article, we will explore how to set descriptions for BigQuery tables using DBT (Data Build Tool), a data engineering framework that helps organizations standardize their data transformations and make their data pipelines more efficient.
Step 1: Define the Descriptions in Your DBT Model
DBT models are used to define the structure of your data in BigQuery and can be used to specify the descriptions for your tables. To set the descriptions for your tables, you will need to add a description property to your model’s {{ config }} block.
Here is an example of what a DBT model with a description might look like:
{{ config(
materialized='table',
description='This table contains information about customers and their orders'
) }}
select
customer_id,
customer_name,
order_date,
order_total
from
`bigquery-public-data.northwind.customers`
In this example, the description property is set to 'This table contains information about customers and their orders'. This description will be applied to the table when it is created in BigQuery.
Step 2: Compile the DBT Model
Once you have defined the descriptions for your tables in your DBT models, you will need to compile your models to create the tables in BigQuery. To compile your models, you can use the following command:
dbt run
This command will compile all of your models and create the tables in BigQuery. If your models are already compiled, the dbt run command will only update the existing tables with the latest changes.
Step 3: Verify the Descriptions in BigQuery
To verify that the descriptions have been set correctly, you can navigate to the BigQuery console and view the properties for your table. In the console, select your table and click on the Details tab. The description for your table should be displayed in the Description section.
Here is an example of what the description for a BigQuery table might look like in the BigQuery console:
Table Name: customers_orders
Description: This table contains information about customers and their orders, including the customer ID, name, order date, and total. Data is sourced from the Northwind database and is updated daily.
In this example, the table name is customers_orders, and the description provides a clear and concise summary of the contents of the table, including the source of the data and the frequency of updates. This information can be valuable for anyone who needs to understand the purpose and contents of the table, including data analysts, data scientists, and business stakeholders. By setting clear and concise descriptions for your tables in BigQuery, you can help ensure that your data is well-documented and easily understood by others.
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