Viewing Insight Maps
Axon can display Unison search results as an interactive map. Maps are a graphical representation of the relationships between objects across different facets. You can apply different overlays, exclude nodes and group nodes to view more or less information on the map. Insight maps are not limited in scope to any particular facet or object type.
You can view the following types of maps in Axon:
- System Lineage
- Displays system objects and how information flows across them. The dotted lines between systems describe a system interface. The solid lines between systems describe the linking attributes.
- If a system is assigned to a segment that you cannot access, you can see a lock sign for the system. Though you cannot see the system details, you can see that a hop exists in between the objects.
- Data Lineage
- Displays data set objects and how information flows across them. Axon displays the Data Set Lineage view only when you have described Linking Attributes. Axon displays labels for both system names and the Data Set Name, with searchable data set reference number.
If a data set is assigned to a segment that you cannot access, you can see a lock sign for the data set. Though you cannot see the data set details, you can see that a hop exists in between the objects.
- Multi-Node
- Each node is an object type from a limited range of facets such as system, process, project, and all the stakeholders. You can view the multi-node map with only the System and Stakeholder filters applied and for the Project and Process facets. Axon displays connections between these objects in the map. You can modify the map by controlling the Information menu that appears upon mouseover.
- When you click the information bar, you can add in objects that are connected to the current which are not in scope of the original map. This is limited to the four facets available in the filter, but you can expand the map to see a collection of connected objects.
Interpreting and Interacting with the Map
You can interact with an Insight map to obtain the information that you need. The colour of the node shows whether they are in scope of the active search.
The lines connecting items on the map represent connections between items. Clicking on any item that is connected to any other item highlights the inbound and outbound paths. A dotted line between objects means that one or more interfaces exist between two objects. A solid line means that a flow of data lineage is available described between data sets held in systems.
You can perform the following tasks on the map:
- Highlight a Node
- Click on a node and see the information flow. Axon highlights the lines to show information flowing in and out of an object. This works when you have created system interfaces or linking attribute relationships.
- Moving Objects
- Left click and drag an object to move it around the map. To move more than one object, draw a rectangle around the objects using a left click and highlight multiple items. For larger maps that exceed the viewable area, right click and drag the map canvas to move around.
- Open the Information Menu
- You can hover your cursor over an object to see the information menu. Some of the actions that you perform in the information menu will temporarily change the look of the map without refocusing the search in Unison Search.
- You can perform the following tasks from the information menu:
- - Go to object. Open the object in a new browser tab.
- - Hide the object. Temporarily remove the item and the interface lines that connect it to other systems from the map.
- - Focus object. Limit the map view to items directly connected to one object. An object in focus is highlighted in green color
- - Hide upstream or Hide downstream. View information that flows into or out of a given system. Hide upstream will suppress the flow into the object and Hide downstream will suppress the flow from the object.
Insight Maps Palette
After you open an Insight Map, you can use the palette to change the way Axon displays the map. Click the - icon on the right hand side of the Axon map screen to hide the palette and the + icon to show the palette if it is hidden.
You can perform the following tasks from the Insight Map palette:
- Change the Map Type
- Select a map type from the drop-down list. Axon redraws the map based on the map type that you selected.
- The following options are available from the drop-down list:
- - System Lineage
- - Data Set Lineage
- - Multi Node Lineage
- Change the Map Layout
- You can change the direction of the lineage flow by changing the map layout. Select a layout from the drop-down list to change the map layout.
- The following options are available from the drop-down list:
- - Left to Right. Use this layout for small to medium sized maps.
- - Top to Bottom. Use this layout to represent information flows that aggregate into a central point.
- - Organic. Use this layout for larger maps or maps with no overriding direction in the information flow.
- Change the Overlay
- Axon can place additional information on the map in the form of an information box above each object by changing the overlay. Adding an overlay increases the space required on the screen to display the map. Overlays are therefore limited by default to show a maximum of 10 items in an overlay, with multiple pages to hold extra information. The grey box at the bottom of each overlay shows users how many pages of information each overlay contains.
- A System Lineage map has the following overlay types:
Group | Overlay |
|---|
Data | - - Description. Description of the systems.
- - Glossary. Glossary terms that are associated with the systems.
- - Data Sets. Data sets that are part of the system.
- - Attributes. Data set attributes that are part of the system.
- - Linking Attributes. Attributes that connect systems and data sets.
- - Data Quality. Data quality scores for the systems.
- - Data Privacy. If Axon is integrated with Informatica Data Privacy Management, you can see the risk score, protection status, and sensitivity level for each system.
|
Business | - - Stakeholders. Stakeholders for the systems and their roles.
- - Processes. Processes that are linked to the systems.
- - Projects. Projects that are linked to the systems.
- - Policies. Policies that are associated with the systems.
Note: You can see the violations count for a policy if the policy is linked with a security policy in Informatica Data Privacy Management. The violations count displays N/A if the policy is linked with a classification policy in Informatica Data Privacy Management.
|
Organizational | - - Business Area. Business areas that govern the systems.
- - Products. Products that are associated with the systems.
- - Legal Entities. Legal entities that exercise jurisdiction over the systems.
|
Regulatory | - - Geography. Geographical regions to which the systems belong.
|
- A Data Set Lineage map has the following overlay types:
Group | Overlay |
|---|
Data | - - Description. Description of the data sets.
- - Glossary. Glossary terms that are associated with the data sets.
- - Attributes. Attributes that are part of the data sets.
- - Linking Attributes. Attributes that connect systems and data sets.
- - Data Quality. Data quality scores for the data sets.
|
Business | - - Stakeholders. Stakeholders for the data sets and their roles.
- - Processes. Processes that are linked to the data sets.
- - Projects. Projects that are linked to the data sets.
- - Policies. Policies that are linked to the data sets.
|
- You can view the common dependencies in an overlay by using the following types of highlighting:
- - Simple Highlighting. Click on an item in an Overlay, and it will turn dark blue. If the same item is relevant to other objects, it will be highlighted in a lighter blue.
- - Advanced Highlighting. Some Overlays can show how the information of interest flows between objects by colouring the interface lines red. This is particularly useful for looking at Linking Attributes, where connected objects may have different names in connected systems and data sets.
- Click Clear Overlays from the Overlay drop-down menu to remove any overlay that Axon displays on the map.
- Apply Filters
- Filters allow you to show hide objects or connections that are described based on certain characteristics. The filters available depend on the map type that you are using.
- You can set the following types of filters:
- - Links. Differentiate between Interface and Data Attribute links by selecting or removing the checkbox.
- - System Classification. Include or exclude systems by selecting or removing the checkbox.
- - Interface automation.
After Axon displays a map, you can perform tasks such as zooming in and out to change the map display. These actions do not change the information displayed in the map but change the way Axon displays the map.
You can perform the following additional tasks on a map that Axon displays:
- •Zoom in to the map.
- •Zoom out of the map.
- •Redraw the map.
- •Reset the map.
- •Export the map.
- •Use the map navigator to scroll and view the sections of a large map.
- •View the map in a new full screen browser tab.