Running data lineage and business lineage reports

You can run lineage reports that combine information from job designs, operational metadata, and user-defined relationships between assets. You can also include dependencies that are not related to data flow, such as job sequencing, for impact analysis. You can see the flow of data through specific child assets, for example, the flow of data through selected database columns of a database table. You can hide assets, or assets and their flows, from the report.

Before you begin

You must have any Information Governance Catalog security role except the Information Governance Catalog Glossary Basic User role.

You can display extension mapping documents only once in the lineage report or multiple times. A mapping document can describe the data flow of a single ETL process or script, or it can describe the data flow of multiple ETL processes or scripts. You can choose to repeat the extension mapping documents in lineage reports for each ETL step to improve the report structure. Configure the display setting in Administration > Lineage Management > Lineage Administration > Lineage Configuration.

About this task

Data lineage reports can show the flow of information both to and from a selected asset, or the flow of data in one direction only. By default, the reports include design, operational, and user-defined relationships between assets. Dependencies between assets that are not related to data flow can be added for impact analysis.

In both data lineage and business lineage reports, you can apply a lineage filter to hide assets, or to hide assets and their flows, from the display.

The default maximum number of nodes that are displayed in a lineage report is 500. If more than this number of nodes is present in your lineage report, the report is truncated. To change the default number of nodes that are displayed, see this technote.

You cannot run a lineage report from a stage or a stage column that is in a shared container.

How you configure the display of extension mapping documents can improve the readability of your lineage report. Here is a lineage report with the extension mapping document not repeated for each ETL step.
Figure 1. Lineage report with all ETL steps going to a single extension mapping document
Lineage report with all ETL steps going to a single extension mapping document
In contrast, here is a lineage report with the extension mapping document repeated for each ETL step.
Figure 2. Lineage report with each ETL step going to an extension mapping document
Lineage report with each ETL step going to an extension mapping document

Procedure

  1. Hover the mouse pointer over the name of an asset, and then click either the Data Lineage icon Data lineage or the Business Lineage icon Business lineage. Alternatively, in the Details page of the asset, click either the Data Lineage or the Business Lineage icon in the upper-right corner of the window.
  2. In the Lineage Filter window, you can select a filter to further refine the information that is displayed in the lineage report. You can select the direction of data flow to display in the graphic, and you can select which types of analysis relationships to display in the report. Click Run Lineage.
  3. Optional: In an asset node, click the Select [Column | Field | Member | Parameter] link, if available, to trace data lineage through specific child assets.
  4. Optional: In a job node, click the Expand link to see the flow of data between the stages that are contained in that job.

    You cannot select columns in a stage asset. When you hover the cursor over a link in the expanded job, the link name and those stage columns that are involved in the data flow are displayed.

  5. Optional: The Stop icon Truncated report next to a node name indicates that the node is in a truncated branch of the report. To display the rest of the truncated lineage, click the Arrow icon Left arrow or Right arrow in the corner of the node. The truncated branch of the lineage is expanded and displayed in a new window.

    A right arrow indicates that lineage from the node and onward is truncated. A left arrow indicates that lineage up to the node is truncated.

  6. Optional: Click the Save icon Save the text to a file or print the graphic to save the text in the Inventory pane, or to print the entire graphic.

    The text is saved to a file in a PDF format. The graphic is sent to the printer that you select or is saved to a file in a comma-separated value (CSV) format.