Erwin

Erwin is data modeling software that supports multiple database platforms and can be used to create data models from scratch or by reverse-engineering a specific database.

IBM Automatic Data Lineage can scan erwin and automatically pull physical and logical models that can then be added to your data lineage to create end-to-end logical data lineage.

Automatic Data Lineage currently scans:

• Physical models

• Logical/physical models

• Logical models

Erwin Scanner Overview

The erwin scanner parses provided input XML specifications of erwin models. The models can be of physical or logical layers. The physical layer can share a database connection configuration, and the logical layer provides a higher level of abstraction for the data visualization. The data lineage is interpolated from the physical to the logical layer by utilizing the mappings between physical and logical objects within the models. If the erwin scanner and relevant database scanners are correctly configured, Automatic Data Lineage can enrich physical assets scanned from a database with metadata available in the erwin model.

Supported Features

• Models for physical and logical layers

• Mapping between layers

• Asset metadata such as definitions, notes, and extended notes

• Check constraints on the column level and table level with enforced flag

• Alternate keys and inversion entry keys on the column level and table level

• Column-level constraints: primary key and foreign key constraints

• Column-level metadata such as data type, data type length, and nullability

• Name and description of all constraints

• Uniqueness flag for indexes and constraints

Known Unsupported Features

Automatic Data Lineage does not support the following Erwin features. This list includes all of the features that IBM is aware are unsupported, but it might not be comprehensive.

• Visualization of ER relationships or referential integrity constraints

• Advanced foreign key constraints such as name or description

• Extraction of lineage from the model itself

• Analysis of SQL code within the model

Check out the guides below for more details on setting up this scanner.

• Erwin Integration Requirements
• Erwin Resource Configuration
• Erwin Manual Inputs

Extraction and Analysis Phase Scenarios

Extraction Phase

For the extraction phase for Erwin, there is only one scenario.

1. Erwin ingestion scenario - pulls inputs from git Manta Flow Agent Configuration for Extraction:Git Source or a remote agent filesystem location Manta Flow Agent Configuration for Extraction:Agent Source

Analysis Phase

For the analysis phase for erwin models, there is only one scenario.

1. Erwin dataflow scenario — analyzes metadata from the provided erwin models and and saves it in your Automatic Data Lineage metadata repository