Lineage Diagram

The data flow "interactive" Diagram displays the columns/fields involved in the given data flow trace, not all the columns. The user can then select the columns/fields to be displayed to better present the business use case of that data flow. Then the user can interact within that diagram by selecting columns/fields to display its lineage. Furthermore, the Diagram allows you to display conditional labels such as PII or Confidential SensitivityLevel, not only providing more critical information to the user, but also better visualization of the propagation of that information (e.g. PII) through the data flow lineage trace.

Please refer to the Lineage Diagram visualization common features.

In order to see data flow lineage, one must

Define a configuration that contains all of the models potentially in the data flow
Stitch the models together by resolving connection definitions and Build the configuration

Once the configuration is ready, then you are ready to report on lineage.

End-to-end data flow lineage across models is only available at the classifier (e.g., table) and feature (e.g., column) level. If instead, one goes to the object page for a schema or model, , as this is not classifier or feature, the lineage tab shows the overview lineage within the scope of that model only.

Steps

Trace data flow lineage.
Click the Analysis Diagram tab on the left side.
From here you may
- Pick the Direction in the pull-down in the header of the diagram:
  - Impact (Destination) direction
  - Lineage (Sources) direction
  - Any type for both data impact and lineage.
- Select which columns to display in the diagram using the Columns pull-down in the header of the diagram.
  - A list of possible columns with a quick find is presented with checkboxes.
- Pick the Depth in the pull-down in the upper right.
  - 1 (Adjacent) step in the lineage. Objects in the lineage that are the next items in a lineage trace.

For impact, adjacent can often be the data store (like a warehouse) that is the target of an object being loaded by DI/ETL that is the focus of the lineage. For course lineage, it can often mean the data source directly loaded from to produce the object that is the focus of the lineage.

2 thru 9 steps in the lineage
Any type for both data impact and lineage.
- Click the Show actions for the selected object icon (see Lineage Diagram Visualization Common Features)
- Click Save an image to produce a downloadable file with a lineage image.
- Click Filters and specify lineage filter options.
- Click Display Options and specify lineage display options.

Example

Navigate to the object page for the Customer table in the Staging DW.dbo schema.

Go to the Lineage tab and click the Diagram tab on the left side.

Pick ANY for the Direction in the pull-down in the diagram header.

The red colored pin indicating the source of the lineage and impact trace.

The diagram defaults to the classifier (table) level for performance reasons.

Click the Show actions for the selected object icon and select Show Columns.

Now columns are visible, but still not the column lines. Again, this is for reasons of performance and simplicity of presentation.

Click on the Display Options icon and click Show Conditional Labels

Here, you may pick and choose conditional labels to show in the diagram and the image shows all of them selected for display.

Click on the Display Options icon and select Show Term Definitions

Terms, like US Social Security Number (documenting the ID field), are used to document columns and tables that are in this lineage trace and this is shown in the diagram.

Lineage Diagram Visualization Common Features

There are a number of common features and tools available when visualizing a lineage trace, data model, etc.

Lineage Diagram Show Overview

You may click this Show overview icon to show or hide an Overview panel of the model diagram. Click in the overview to quickly move to a portion of the full diagram.

Lineage Diagram Zoom In/Out and Fit to content

Click Zoom in () or Zoom out () icons to adjust the aspect ratio of the diagram. Also, you may click on the Fit to content ()icon to view the entire diagram at the best zoom that will fit.

Lineage Diagram Collapse / Expand

Click Expand / Collapse to expand or collapse the entire diagram (ensure that you do not have an object selected, otherwise the action will only apply to that object).

You may also click on the plus sign for an object to expand and the minus sign to collapse just that object.

Lineage Diagram Show actions for the selected object

Show the actions available in the context menu for the selected object.

Open to go to the object page for the object
Open Lineage to change the point of origin (red pin in diagram) to present a new lineage display.

Lineage Diagram Trace in General

Select the Analysis Diagram tab on the left to obtain this presentation. You will see a graphical presentation of the lineage (data impact or data source).

Additional options include:

Zoom In/Out and Fit to content

Click Zoom in or Zoom out icons to adjust the aspect ratio of the diagram. Also, you may click on the Fit to content icon to view the entire diagram at the best zoom that will fit.

Collapse / Expand

Click Expand / Collapse to expand or collapse the entire diagram (ensure that you do not have an object selected, otherwise the action will only apply to that object).

You may also click on the plus sign for an object to expand and the minus sign to collapse just that object.

Open the object page

You may right-click and select Open (),to navigate to the object page.

Print

You may download a PNG or SVG image of the diagram.

Quick find

In the upper right, there is a search text box that will provide a quick list of object names that contain the text you type. You may click on any of the results to select that object in the diagram and moving the focus there.

Explore Further

Invoking a lineage trace from any reference to an object

You may invoke a lineage trace from any diagram or any list of results (e.g., from a Browse or Search), either via right-click context menu

Details Panel

Click to select a object and view its Overview page properties in the Details Panel on the right. You may show and hide this panel as needed.

Lineage Diagram Display Options

The Display Options are available.

Show Term Definitions – Show semantic lineage back to glossary terms for those which provide definitions of objects in the data flow lineage
Compact View – Toggles between small boxes with icons and wider boxes with more text and detail.
Show Conditional Labels – Display conditional labels in the diagram as selected in Edit Conditional Labels.
Edit Conditional Labels – Pick the conditional labels to display
MAXIMUM NODE WIDTH – set the size of the object boxes.

Lineage Diagram Options Show Term Definitions

Here you may see the terms with Defined by relationships in the diagram.

Lineage Diagram Options Compact View

Lineage Diagram Options Show Conditional Labels

Click on the Display Options icon and click Show Conditional Labels

Here, you may pick and choose conditional labels to show in the diagram and the image shows all of them selected for display.

Lineage Diagram Options Maximum Node Width

In many cases, names of objects may be too long to fit into the objects in the diagram. You may specify several different node width maximums to make the diagram more readable. Click on Display Options.