Method and apparatus for creating a lineage of a data field in a data flow system
View Patent ↗A method and apparatus for creating a lineage for a data field is disclosed. The method may include creating a unique identifier for a data field. Also, a record of the origin of data is created when the data is inserted into the data field; however this is not required. The record of the origin of data is associated with the unique identifier for the data field. The lineage for a data field may be viewed. In so doing, the transformations to the data field may be shown.
1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a user request specifying a user-selected location in a plan displayed on a screen, the plan graphically depicting a data flow diagram illustrating a plurality of steps to perform on data, the plurality of steps beginning with a data source step and ending with a data viewing step; and
in response to the user request, identifying steps applied to the data prior to the user-selected location in the plan, and displaying a list of the steps applied to the data prior to the user-selected location in the plan.
2. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising displaying data transformations.
3. The method defined in claim 2 wherein the data transformations are displayed without executing the plan.
4. A computer apparatus for creating a lineage for a data field comprising:
means for creating a plan graphically depicting a data flow diagram illustrating a plurality of steps to perform on data, the plurality of steps beginning with a data source step and ending with a data viewing step;
means for receiving a user request specifying a user-selected location in the plan;
means for identifying steps applied to the data prior to the user-selected location in the plan; and
means for displaying a list of the steps applied to the user-selected location in this plan.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 , further comprising:
means for displaying the data transformation.
6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprising:
means for displaying the data transformations without executing the plan.
7. A computer-implemented method for operating a data processing system, comprising the steps of:
displaying on a screen a graphical representation of a data processing plan, said plan including a plurality of steps to perform on data, beginning with a data source step and ending with a data viewing step;
receiving a user selection of one of said steps in said data processing plan; and
in response to said user selection, displaying a list of steps applied to the data prior to the user-selected step in the plan.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein said data processing system incorporates a data mart and said data processing plan is a plan for processing data from said data mart.
9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising displaying data transformations.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the data transformations are displayed without executing the plan.