View lineage information for a data item
Before you begin
Before you can access lineage information for a report, your administrator must configure lineage in IBM® Cognos® Administration. Also, the administrator must enable the lineage capability and grant read permission for you on the report.
About this task
Lineage information traces the metadata of an item back through the package and the data sources used by the package. Lineage also displays any data item filters that were added by the report author or that were defined in the data model. Viewing lineage information ensures that you add the correct data items to a report. For example, you can view the lineage information of a model calculation to see how it was created.
You can use the lineage tool that comes with IBM Cognos Analytics, or you can use another lineage tool by specifying the URL to the tool in IBM Cognos Administration. Note that if the URL source is secured, the source must be able to prompt users for a password because IBM Cognos Analytics does not pass security information. IBM Cognos Analytics also supports the IBM Metadata Workbench as a lineage tool.
You cannot use lineage information to troubleshoot queries. For example, lineage information will not explain why a data item is double counted. Also, you cannot view lineage information when running a report from a mobile device.
There are several ways in which you can view lineage information.
- You can view lineage information for a data item before you add it to a report.
- You can view lineage information in IBM
Cognos Viewer after you run a report.
For example, you can click a cell in a crosstab to see how the cell value was calculated.
- You can view lineage information in the Cognos Analytics interactive viewer after you run a report.
- In the page preview view, you can view lineage information for a data item that was added to a report.
Procedure
Results
The lineage tool opens showing the lineage information of the selected data item.