Managing business lineage (IBM Knowledge Catalog)

You can view a lineage graph that provides visibility into origin, transformations, and destination of data as it is used to build data products.

This page describes capabilities of business lineage feature available with IBM Knowledge Catalog.

This feature is not available by default. The lineage feature must be installed with IBM Knowledge Catalog or IBM Knowledge Catalog Premium. If you want to see and work with the business data lineage, the lineage feature must also be enabled (installed with the optional knowledge graph component) before you run any lineage import.

If the lineage feature is enabled, this business data lineage is available on the asset's Lineage tab. Business data lineage is shown only for assets that were newly imported after the lineage feature was enabled. Lineage cannot be calculated for existing assets. If you're interested in the business data lineage for such assets, you must set up and run a new lineage import with a different target catalog.

Required permission

You must have the following user permission:

  • Access catalogs

Prerequisite: You must import lineage with the Metadata import.

Supported asset types

Lineage supports the following asset types:

  • Data assets
  • Transformation scripts
  • Business intelligence reports
  • Custom assets
  • Data integration assets
  • Lineage relationship mapping files

Adding lineage information to assets

You can add lineage information to assets in the following ways:

  • Use metadata import in projects to get lineage information. By using the Get lineage option, you can add assets to the catalog along with lineage information. For example, you can import business intelligence reports including their queries and the respective query items along with lineage details about these queries and information about potential transformations of the query items.
  • Use REST API to create new flows for assets with data_lineage attribute.
  • Use custom relationships between assets to create new flows in the lineage graph. In order to create new lineage flows, enable visibility when creating a new custom relationship between assets. Those relationships can be added to the lineage graph on the asset's catalog page in the related items section.

Viewing lineage

  • To view lineage, click the Lineage tab of the asset.
  • In settings, you can hide or show the legend and the mini map.
  • Click an asset to view a side panel with extra metadata without navigating back to its overview page.
  • Use Show columns to view column-level lineage. Select columns that you want to view in the lineage graph.
  • In the overflow menu, you can:
    • View an asset by clicking Open this asset.
    • View next or previous assets.
    • Trace lineage of source to target and all the transformations in between in the expanded view by choosing Show assets to or Show assets from.
    • View all paths for selected assets with Show all option.
  • To view stages of DataStage job, click Expand.

Filtering lineage graph

You can filter your assets and save your filtering options to apply them to any lineage graph in the future. Choose a filter icon to see your saved filters. To create new set of saved filters go to Custom tab. You can filter your assets by business terms, type, quality score, classification, tags, and select to view assets not in the catalog. Choose Apply to apply your selection to a current lineage graph, choose Save and enter a name and a description to save your filtering options.

Exporting a lineage graph

You can export the lineage graph to a CSV or an interactive PDF by clicking a Download graph icon.

The PDF export includes canvas summary, time and data stamp, details of each asset, and column lineage. Export your lineage graph by using the Google Chrome browser.

Viewing lineage in the MANTA Automated Data Lineage

To view technical lineage in the MANTA Automated Data Lineage UI, click Go to asset's technical data lineage in the side panel.

Learn more

Parent topic: Catalog assets