External Elements¶

The Data Catalog allows you to discover the resources located in an external tool server by searching or browsing. These resources are called external elements. When you find an external element of your interest, click its name. You will see all the available information about it, considering both the metadata retrieved from the external tool server and the metadata added by other users of the Data Catalog.

The information about an external element is organized in the following pills:

• Summary. The summary pill shows the basic information of the external element: external tool server, categories, description, etc.

• Reference lineage. The reference lineage pill displays a diagram with the current external element and all the external data sources used by it. Also, if the external element is related to a view from the Virtual DataPort you can check an expand this lineage as well.

• Requests. The requests pill displays the requests created on this external element.

There is also a header that consists of:

• The name and the original name (in brackets) of the external element.

• The external tool server where the external element belongs.

The Open in menu allows you to open this external element in third-party applications. It depends on the external tool server where the external element belongs. The following third-party applications are supported:

• Power BI: Click this button to open the external element in the Power BI service web application.

• Tableau Desktop: Click this button to open the external element in Tableau Desktop 10.5.0 or later.

Options available for an external element in the Actions menu.¶

The Actions menu where you will find the following operations for an external element:

• If you have permissions to create requests, the corresponding options for creating requests will be displayed.

  Types of requests available for an external element:

  • Access request: request type intended to request permissions to access an external element.

  • Change: request type intended for requesting metadata changes.

  • Data quality: request type intended for reporting a problem with the data of the external element that needs to be fixed.

  • Question: request type intended for asking something about the external element.

  When the external element has requests created by the current user, a new pill Requests is shown. Furthermore, requests created can be listed on my requests page.

• If you are allowed to assign categories, tags or custom properties the corresponding options will be displayed.

• If you are allowed to create endorsements the corresponding options will be displayed. Click it and write your comment. Take into account that you can only endorse an external element once. If you write a new comment, the previous endorsement will be replaced.

• If you are allowed to write warnings the corresponding option will be displayed. Remember that you can only write one warning against an external element.

• If you are allowed to write deprecations the corresponding options will be displayed. Remember that you can only write one deprecation about an external element.

  If the external element is deprecated you will see the icon next to its name, and a notification will appear every time you access the external element.

  

  The notification with the deprecation messages has a Show details button. Click it to check all deprecations or edit them if you are allowed to.¶