View Lineage Information for a Data Item

View lineage information of a data item to see what the item represents before you add it to a report.

Lineage information traces the metadata of an item back through the package and the data sources used by the package. Lineage also displays any data item filters that were added by the report author or that were defined in the data model. Viewing lineage information ensures that you add the correct data items to a report. For example, you can view the lineage information of a model calculation to see how it was created.

Note: Lineage is available only after your administrator has configured it. For more information, see the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Administration and Security Guide. In addition, lineage is not supported in reports that are not linked to packages.

You can use the lineage tool that comes with IBM® Cognos Business Intelligence, or you can use another lineage tool by specifying the URL to the tool in IBM Cognos Administration. Note that if the URL source is secured, the source must be able to prompt users for a password because IBM Cognos BI does not pass security information. IBM Cognos BI also supports the IBM Metadata Workbench as a lineage tool. For more information about configuring other lineage tools, see the IBM Cognos Business Intelligence Administration and Security Guide.

Tip: The Customer Returns and Satisfaction sample report Customer Returns and Satisfaction in the GO Data Warehouse (analysis) package includes lineage information. For more information about The Sample Outdoors Company samples, see Sample Reports and Packages.

You cannot use lineage information to troubleshoot queries. For example, lineage information will not explain why a data item is double counted. Also, you cannot view lineage information when running a report from a mobile device.

Before you begin

Before you can access lineage information for a report, your administrator must configure lineage in IBM Cognos Administration. Also, the administrator must enable the lineage capability and grant read permission for you on the report.

Note: The IBM Cognos BI lineage tool shows lineage on a report at its highest level. The lineage does not change after you drill down on a report. Because the selection context used to launch lineage can be affected by drill-down operations, we recommend that you always launch lineage at the highest report level before drilling down on the report. Otherwise, the lineage may not start properly.

Procedure

From the Source tab

, right-click the data item and click Lineage.

Tip: You can view lineage information for multiple data items at the same time by first Ctrl+clicking the items. The IBM Metadata Workbench does not support viewing lineage for multiple data items at once.

Results

The lineage tool opens showing the lineage information of the selected data item.