Documentation

Data Lineage questions

The following are some frequently asked questions about Data Lineage.

For general information, view our Data Lineage documentation.

How can I see the backing and writeback datasets for my object type in Data Lineage?
What datasets in my pipeline also have a specific column?
Who was the last person to modify a resource on this pipeline?
How can I find which of my datasets have open transactions?
Where are most of the datasets used in the pipeline stored?
How can I share my unsaved Data Lineage graph?
Why is my dataset not up-to-date?

How can I see the backing and writeback datasets for my object type in Data Lineage?

First, add your object to the Data Lineage graph by searching for it in the right panel (the tab with a magnifying glass icon). Select Object types to filter your search, then enter the name of the object for which you want to view the backing and writeback datasets.
Next, select the arrow on the left side of your Object type to show its ancestors. This should produce one ancestor node if your object type is read-only and two ancestor nodes if your object type has writeback enabled. Make sure Resource type is selected in the Node color options dropdown to see your Writeback Dataset colored as per the legend in the top right. Backing schema dataset colors depend on the transform type used.
Your writeback and backing datasets for an object type will also have a small globe icon in the top right.

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What datasets in my pipeline also have a specific column?

First, ensure all desired datasets in your pipeline have been added to the Data Lineage graph.
Next, select desired datasets by using the Select mode in the Tools toggle in the upper left corner of the canvas.
Then open the Histogram of selection properties from the right side panel. Under the section titled Frequent columns, you will see the most frequent columns by column name in your selection.

Selecting one of these columns will highlight the datasets in your selection that contain this column.

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Who was the last person to modify a resource on this pipeline?

First, ensure that all datasets of interest in your pipeline have been added to the Data Lineage graph.
Next, select datasets by using Select mode from the Tools toggle in the upper left corner of your screen. Then, open the Histogram of selection properties from the right side panel.
Under the Last Modified section, you will see the last user(s) to modify datasets in your selection. Selecting a username will highlight the datasets that user last modified within the graph.

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How can I find which of my datasets have open transactions?

In the dropdown menu in the top right side, choose Build Status. Now, you should be able to see if any dataset is currently running. Any such dataset has an open transaction.

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Where are most of the datasets used in the pipeline stored?

First, ensure that all datasets of interest in your pipeline have been added to the Data Lineage graph
Next, select all datasets of interest with the Select mode from the Tools toggle in the upper left corner of your screen. Then, open the Histogram of selection properties from the right side panel.
Under the section titled Frequent folder paths, you will see the most common folder paths for resources in your selection.

Selecting a golden path will highlight the resources in this path on the graph. Hovering over a folder path will show you the full path.

You can select multiple properties in the Histogram of selection properties panel such that the graph highlights all resources that satisfy your selection.

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To share your unsaved Data Lineage, select the arrow in the top right corner near Save. Once there, you can see a quick share link.

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Why is my dataset not up-to-date?

There are a few reasons why your dataset may not be up-to-date.

Consider the following reasons why your dataset may not be up-to-date:

Is your dataset build failing?
Is there an upstream dataset that has not built and is not up-to-date?
Have you received up-to-date data from the source?

You can easily answer these questions in Data Lineage:

First, verify the status of each of the resources in your pipeline by opening up the dataset of interest in Data Lineage and then right-clicking on the node.
Then, select Expand node.... You can view all ancestor nodes for that dataset by selecting the double left arrow above Expand parents....
Next, select the Build status option in the Node color options dropdown menu in the top right to view the build status of every resource in your pipeline. This view of your pipeline will make it easier to diagnose stale datasets.

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Data Lineage questions

How can I see the backing and writeback datasets for my object type in Data Lineage?

What datasets in my pipeline also have a specific column?

Who was the last person to modify a resource on this pipeline?

How can I find which of my datasets have open transactions?

Where are most of the datasets used in the pipeline stored?

How can I share my unsaved Data Lineage graph?

Why is my dataset not up-to-date?