Apparatus and method for analyzing impact and lineage of multiple source data objects
A computer readable storage medium includes executable instructions to list flattened single source object relationships in a first segment of a multiple source relationship table. Same-as multiple source object relationships are calculated. Same-as multiple source object relationships are then populated in a second segment of the multiple source relationship table.
1. A computer readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to:
access metadata objects in a metadata repository, wherein each metadata object has an identity defined by a hierarchical structure;
list flattened single data source metadata object relationships in a first segment of a multiple data source relationship table, wherein the flattened single data source object relationships specify direct and intermediate links between metadata objects in a single data source;
calculate same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships, wherein a same-as multiple data source metadata object relationship identifies equivalent metadata objects based upon a common hierarchical structure;
populate flattened same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships in a second segment of the multiple data source relationship table, wherein the flattened same-as multiple data source object relationships specify direct and intermediate links between metadata objects in multiple data sources; and
report data lineage information from the multiple data source relationship table.
2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the executable instructions to calculate same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships include executable instructions to calculate static same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships.
3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the executable instructions to calculate same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships include executable instructions to calculate dynamic same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships.
4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the executable instructions to calculate same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships include executable instructions to identify same-as metadata objects with symmetric properties.
5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the executable instructions to calculate same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships include executable instructions to identify same-as metadata objects with transitive properties.
6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the executable instructions to calculate same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships include executable instructions to specify SQL queries.
7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to store the same-as multiple data source metadata object relationships in a cache.
8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7 further comprising executable instructions to assign a common cache index value to common metadata objects.
9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to report data impact information from the multiple data source relationship table.
10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 further comprising executable instructions to specify data relationships between at least two data sources selected from a relational database, an Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) database, a modeling tool, an Extraction Transform Load (ETL) tool, and a Business Intelligence (BI) tool.
11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical structure is selected from a file hierarchy, an Extensible Markup Language (XML) hierarchy, and a database hierarchy.