Understanding the Lineage View
Dependency Lineage helps you:
Understand how assets are connected
Analyze impact before making changes
Identify cleanup opportunities
Improve governance and trust
It turns Inventory from a static catalog into a dynamic system of relationships. Here is how you interpret the lineage view.
Upstream Assets
These are the inputs to your asset.
Examples:
Semantic models powering a report
Dataflows feeding a dataset
Source systems behind a model
If empty: “No upstream assets found” means the asset is either:
A top-level source
Or lineage is not available from the BI tool
Downstream Assets
These are the outputs that depend on your asset.
Examples:
Reports built on a semantic model
Dashboards using reports
Other models or derived assets
This section is shown as a table with rich metadata, including:
Asset name & type
Owner
Last modifier
Health status (e.g., Stale, Unused)
Actions
The Actions section allows you to easily:
Learn more about the dependency in the Control Tower Lineage
Go to the asset in its source tool, like Power BI or Tableau
Interpreting Key Signals in Lineage
1. Dependency Count
The number next to each section shows how many assets are connected
Helps quickly assess impact size
2. Health Indicators
You’ll see tags like:
Unused
Stale
These come from monitoring and help you understand:
Whether dependencies are still relevant
Where cleanup opportunities exist
3. Ownership
Each downstream asset includes:
Owner
Last modifier
Use this to:
Contact stakeholders
Validate whether something can be changed or removed
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