Resource Lineage

Overview

Resource Lineage is an important concept in the data lifecycle. It describes the origin of data and its full path to the current point, helping users manage data more efficiently. In Guandata BI, typical resources include datasets, dashboard pages, applications, and Cards. Field Lineage focuses on specific fields within resources and tracks the flow of those fields across different data resources.

Through the Resource Lineage entry on different resources, users can understand overall lineage from a global perspective. They can also inspect Field Lineage in a more fine-grained way to understand the impact of field-level changes.

• Looking upstream: identify where the current object came from through Lineage Analysis.
• Looking downstream: identify who depends on the current object through Impact Analysis.

User Guide

Resource Lineage

Through Resource Lineage, users can easily see the relationships among data applications, analytical dashboards, ETL flows, datasets, and other resources. This makes it easier to understand upstream and downstream dependencies, assess deletion or modification risk, and troubleshoot issues by tracing critical nodes upward or evaluating downstream impact from metric changes.

View Resource Lineage

Resource Lineage can be accessed from Data Account lists, dataset lists and details, Cards, pages, applications, large screens, and ETL lists and details.

Analyze the Resource Lineage of a Dataset

1. Open Data Center > Datasets, then click the View Resource Lineage button in the action bar on the right.

   

2. Resource types include Data Account, Dataset, ETL, Dashboard, Large Screen, and Application. On the lineage page, users can also select Lineage Analysis and Impact Analysis to see complete lineage information.

   

3. By default, the lineage canvas expands two levels upward and downward. Clicking a node expands the lineage further.

   

4. When the lineage chain is complex, canvas aids can be used to help locate nodes.

   

5. When tracing a database dataset upward, users can identify the source database tables associated with the dataset.

   

Analyze the Resource Lineage of a Card

1. In the data analysis interface, click the View Resource Lineage button for a Card.

   

2. On the lineage page, Cards and Dashboards can be used as the analysis object, and both upstream and downstream lineage are displayed.

   

View Node Information and Switch Analysis Objects

Guandata BI allows users to inspect information for any resource node and switch the analysis target.

1. Click a node to highlight its border. Detailed information appears on the right, including creation time, path, and status. Users can also click the button at the bottom of the panel to jump directly to the resource details page.

   

2. For ETL and Dataset nodes, the most recent update time and status are also visible.

   

3. Guandata BI supports Switch Analysis Object. Click the ... button on any node and choose Switch Analysis Object to use that node as the current analysis target and display its lineage chain.

   Note

   Currently, node switching is visible only to administrators. This permission scope may be optimized further in later versions.

   

Batch Operations

Batch operations are supported for resource nodes, mainly including batch deletion and application unbinding.

• Batch Deletion

  Note

  Currently, the batch deletion feature is visible only to administrators. This permission scope may be optimized further in later versions.

  1. Click Batch Operations to display the selection boxes for nodes, then select multiple resources.

     

  2. Click Batch Delete to delete all selected nodes. Deleted Dashboards are moved to the recycle bin, while other resources are not recoverable.

     

  3. If a node still has downstream dependencies, it cannot be deleted. The failed nodes are shown in the Delete Failed dialog.

     

  4. Click Show Backward Lineage to inspect the related downstream resources. After confirming their importance, click Delete Lineage Tree to delete all deletable nodes in the current operation area.

     

  5. If deletion succeeds, the node appears faded and dashed, and disappears after refresh. Deletion is irreversible.

     

• Unbind Applications

  If users need to delete certain dashboards but keep their related applications, they should first unbind the applications from the dashboard node.

  Click the ... button on the dashboard resource node and choose Unbind All Related Applications.

  

  After unbinding, the dashboard no longer appears in the application. The application is also removed from the downstream lineage tree of that dashboard, so users can later delete only the dashboard itself.

Field Lineage

In the past, when data consumers found a metric on a dashboard that did not match historical expectations, data developers had to manually trace from the problematic Card to the related dataset, then step through upstream ETL flows and data sources one by one. If the root cause originated outside the BI platform, they had to continue tracing up to the source database table. This process was cumbersome and inefficient.

To solve this problem, Guandata BI provides Field Lineage. Based on lineage, users can locate upstream and downstream datasets, ETL flows, and Cards related to a specific field or metric, trace the root cause upward, and assess downstream impact when the metric logic changes.

Preparation

If an ETL node is involved in the lineage chain, the ETL must run at least once before field lineage information can be generated.

View Field Lineage

1. During troubleshooting, if users want to inspect the lineage of a specific field, they can switch to the Field Lineage tab.

   Note

   Only datasets and Cards support Field Lineage viewing.

2. Select the fields to analyze in the field list on the left, and the corresponding lineage and impact analysis results are shown on the canvas on the right.

   

3. Switch to the Resource List tab to see all resources involved in the currently selected fields.

   

4. On the edit page of a Smart ETL flow, click an operator node to analyze the field lineage at the node level. After selecting a field, the full lineage path of the current field is highlighted on the canvas, and related lineage field names are shown on the relevant nodes.

   

Note

• At present, only datasets and Cards support Field Lineage viewing.
• Field Lineage for ETL Output Datasets is refreshed each time the ETL runs. If it is missing or incorrect, rerun the ETL and check the lineage again.

Audit Log Support for Lineage Access Records

Audit logs support access records for Resource Lineage and Field Lineage, mainly recording information such as access time and accessing user.