Reading the Lineage Graph

The graph is the canvas of cards and connections that both Lineage tabs draw. On a container's own lineage, meaning its Lineage tab or a container opened from a datastore's canvas, it is centered on that container: every connection the container participates in is reachable from there, and you can explore further in either direction. A datastore's canvases draw the same cards and connections across the whole datastore, with no single container at the center. What is different about them is described in Datastore-level Lineage.

Direction and the Focal Node

The graph reads left-to-right:

• Upstream appears on the left. These are the sources that feed the focal container.
• Downstream appears on the right. These are the consumers of the focal container.

On a container's own lineage, the focal node is that container. It sits in the middle and is highlighted so you can tell it apart from the surrounding nodes. A datastore's canvases have no focal node.

Nodes

Each node is drawn as a card and represents a container. It shows:

• A container-type icon on the left, telling a table, a file, and the three kinds of computed asset apart. It is tinted on the focal node, which also carries a colored bar across the top of the card.
• The container name, or its display name when it has one. Hovering shows both the display name and the source name, so a renamed asset can still be matched to what the datastore calls it.
• Open this table's lineage beside the name, which opens that container's own lineage. The UI names it after the container's type, so it can read view or file instead of table. On a container's Lineage tab it opens that container's Lineage tab, which needs the Reporter team permission on its datastore, so a node you can see is not always one you can open. On a datastore's Lineage tab it opens the container's lineage on top of the canvas. It is absent on the focal node and on the dashed nodes for assets outside Qualytics.
• The datastore name under the container name, so cross-datastore graphs are easy to navigate, with the datastore-type logo at the right of the header.
• An anomaly badge: an alert icon when the container has active anomalies, a check when it has none. Hovering the alert reads View N active anomalies, and clicking it opens the Anomalies side panel. A container that has never been scanned shows no badge at all, rather than a check it has not earned.
• A field summary reading N of M fields linked, which is also the control that expands the field list. A container with no fields says so instead.
• A count row reading ← N upstream • M downstream →. It counts everything reachable in that direction, however many steps away, not only what is drawn. Hovering the row opens one tooltip covering both sides, which splits each into direct and further and says how many of them are not on the canvas. A count that ends with a plus sign, such as 1K+, means counting stopped, and the tooltip says where: Counting stopped at 1,000, Counting stopped 20 steps back upstream, or Counting stopped 20 steps ahead downstream. The real number is at least that.

Assets Outside Qualytics

Lineage collected from a source datastore reaches tables that are not registered in Qualytics. Those appear as their own nodes, drawn with a dashed border and dimmed against the rest, carrying the logo of the datastore type the connection came from and the name the source spelled the asset with. Hovering names it in full, and right-clicking copies that name.

An external node is a reference, not an asset: there is no container behind it, so nothing opens from it and it has no fields to expand. Registering the table in Qualytics and running the collection again turns it into an ordinary node.

More Neighbors

When a container has more neighbors on one side than are drawn, a dashed + N more card stands in for the rest, captioned with the side and the container, such as Upstream of orders. Show more draws the next batch, and Pick from list opens a panel where you search the rest by name, tick the ones you want and click Add N to graph. See Show More Neighbors.

Edges

A badge on each edge shows how the connection was created: manual, data catalog, source collection, or Qualytics managed. See Lineage Sources for details.

While a card or a field is selected, the connections it highlights keep their badge, however many steps they run. Only the dimmed connections drop theirs.

Where a Connection Came From

Every connection can account for itself. Opening an edge's provenance shows what Qualytics read and what it derived the relationship from, so a connection you did not expect can be traced rather than guessed at.

A connection collected from a source datastore reports, for each piece of evidence behind it:

Each piece is marked with the logo of the system that computed the relationship, which is the source itself when the evidence came from its own lineage, and the Qualytics symbol when Qualytics derived it by reading statement text. One connection can carry several, and each is listed separately rather than merged.

A connection with no such evidence still accounts for itself from its category alone: added by hand, imported from the data catalog, parsed from a computed table's SQL, taken from a computed join's declared inputs or a computed file's declared source, or written by a materialize or scan operation.

The Legend

Legend on the toolbar explains the colors. On a container's own lineage it reads This table, Elsewhere in Qualytics, Not in Qualytics and More linked assets, not drawn yet. On a datastore's map it reads In this datastore (hover it for the name), In another datastore and Not in Qualytics. A datastore's canvases add Group of linked assets, More linked assets, not drawn yet, and Busiest table in a group when the canvas marks one. Every legend also explains the two anomaly badges, Active anomalies and No active anomalies.

Expanding the Graph

On a container's own lineage, the graph starts with the focal node and its immediate neighbors on each side, or a + N more card for the rest. You can explore further from any node when you need more context. On a datastore's all-containers canvas the same controls sit on the cards at a group's edge, and the lineage between two datastores has none.

Nodes that have more connections available show expand controls on the relevant side:

• Expand loads one more step in that direction.
• Expand all follows that direction to its end rather than one step, up to 20 steps out from the node.

See Also