Just installed Engrafo - What now?
- Elias Helgren Dahl
So you just opened Engrafo for the first time… Congratulations! But what now? Don’t worry! We have made this small demo roadmap for you to get started
In the following Engrafo guide we have used the sample database provided by Microsoft: Wide World Importers to create examples and show how Engrafo is used. For a more complete follow-along guide on Engrafo using Wide World Importers and every example utilized in this guide, see: Engrafo Demo - Wide World Importers
1) Import the demo data catalog
Its Important to note, you will need admin privileges in order to upload metadata and configure metadata templates in Engrafo. See more about user permissions here: User Administration
We have made a small demo data catalog for you in .csv file format. Download the .csv file via the below link and upload it following following the steps described in Engrafo under the section Load Metadata → Metadata Load(API) or follow the guide here: Loading Metadata and Documentations | Generating Data Catalog via .CSV Load
Once you have uploaded the data catalog make sure it is there in your Engrafo installation under the Data Catalog and do a bit of exploring following the guide here: Browsing the Data Catalog
2) Create the demo data lineage
Once you have imported your demo data catalog, it’s time to play around with data lineage. We have also created two small .csv files for you to try the import data lineage functionality. Pretty cool, eh? Download the .csv files via the link below, and try to import it as data lineage using the steps described in Engrafo under Load Metadata → Metadata Load(API) or simply follow the guide here: Loading Metadata and Documentations | Generating Data Usage Documentations via .CSV Load. This will create a bunch of data usage documentations you can play around with.
Note: These are In/Out files, meaning they will also load the flow of data that creates the awesome lineage diagrams!
Once you have uploaded the data usage documentations be sure to check they are there in the Data usage section of your Engrafo installation and generate some cool data lineage graphs following the guide here: https://engrafo.atlassian.net/wiki/x/JwBqDw
3) Customize your templates
Now that you have got your own little demo environment it’s time to make it your own. You do this by configuring the templates for data catalog and data usage. Don’t worry - it’s really quite easy.
First try to add an extra metadata attribute (a field) to the the template for table documentation - maybe you want to add something about GDPR sensitivity. You can figure out how, using the guide here:Configuring Templates for the Data Catalog | Create and Edit Units and Fields
Secondly, try to adapt the data usage template, to include something you would also like your data usage documentation to include. It could be an extra field in the “Data and technical info”-section about frequency with which the job runs. Or you could try to create a new template altogether! You can find out how in this guide on data usage templates:Configuring Templates for Data Usage | Creating Templates, Units and Fields
4) Try to load some of your own data and create your own lineage
Believe it or not, but your are now actually ready to utilize Engrafo to democratize data and map data lineage in your own organization! Once you have adapted the templates for schemas, tables, columns, etc. and created the templates you need for data usage, it’s time to get your own stuff in there.
For data catalog either use an adapted version of the .csv template from worldwide importers database provided above or use e.g. the connection string functionality to connect directly to the metadata of your data warehouse.
For data usage either create the data documentations and manually map the data lineage as described here: https://engrafo.atlassian.net/wiki/x/HIBgDw… or use an adapted version of the .csv template from above to automatically load data documentation and data lineage into Engrafo.
Of course you are also very welcome to reach out to us for any questions you might have. Please reach out to us at contact@engrafo.dk and we will get back to you as soon as we are able