Viewing Lineage and Impact Analysis
The Lineage and Impact Analysis view shows how data flows from data sources to data destinations and through Spectrum™ Technology Platform flows. Lineage and impact analysis are similar concepts that describe different ways of tracing the flow of data.
Lineage shows where data comes from. You can use it to trace the path of data back to its source, showing all the systems that process and store the data along the way, such as Spectrum™ Technology Platform flows, databases, and files.
Impact analysis shows where data goes and the systems that depend on data from a selected data resource. You can use it to view the flows, databases, and files that use a data resource directly or indirectly. Looking at impact analysis is useful if you want to understand how a modification to a database, file, or flow will affect the processes and systems that use the data.
Metadata Insights can show lineage and impact analysis in a single diagram that shows the complete flow of data from source to destination. You can also choose to view lineage only or impact only. By viewing data lineage and impact analysis together you can pinpoint issues in your data processes and plan for upgrades and modifications to your data processes.
The resulting diagram shows the flow of data into and out of the entity you selected. The entity's lineage is to the left of the entity. The entity's impact is to the right. You can change the diagram to show only the entity's lineage or only the entity's impact .
Some entities are expandable, allowing you to view the flow of data within the
entity, such as the specific tables that the data flows into in a database, or the
stages in a Spectrum™ Technology Platform flow. To expand an entity, click the tab
in the lower-right corner of the entity's icon:
Once expanded, you can see the details of the flow of data through the entity. For
example, here we have expanded the database entity named Prod SQL Server. You can
see that data in the table Customer Table comes from the Spectrum™ Technology Platform flow named Add to Customer DB. In addition, you can see that
data from Customer Table is used by two flows: Query Customer Job and Geocode Job.
Note as well that the flow Geocode Job writes data back to Customer Table, so in
this example Customer Table is both and input to and an output from Geocode Job.
This example could represent a situation where Geocode Job reads customer addresses
from Customer Table, determines the latitude and longitude coordinates for the
addresses, then adds the latitude and longitude fields to the customer records in
Customer Table.