Observability views (preview)

Data observability in Microsoft Purview Unified Catalog provides specific views focused on a business concept, such as a governance domain or data product, and the user who views that concept. Each view is scoped to a specific concept and provides alternate views in a dropdown menu to help give different perspectives of the data. You can also create your own view by using saved views in the data observability experience under Health management.

Saved views

When you create a saved view, you create a diagram that you can reference later or share with others. After building a diagram by providing minimal details and deciding on sharability, you can reuse the same view at any time.

To create a saved view:

1. In Unified Catalog, go to Health management > Data observability.
2. Create a diagram by searching, filtering, or selecting the items you want to focus on.
3. Select Save this view at the top right of the screen.
4. In the Save view window, provide details about the view:
   1. Enter a View name.
   2. Enter a Description.
   3. At Owner, you can add more users. Only the view owners can manage the view.
   4. Select Visible to everyone if you want other users to see the view.
5. Select Save.

To delete saved views:

1. In Data observability, select Manage saved views from the Save this view dropdown.
2. On the flyout pane, select the trash can icon next to the view you want to remove.
3. Select OK.

Known limitations:

• Only 25 shared views can exist at one time.
• Views aren't a point in time picture; they're based on what is in the most current snapshot for the view.
• Views are either personal or shared to all users of Data observability. Views don't impact the permissions the user has or what they can see in the catalog.
• You can't edit views. If you need to edit a view, start from the previous saved view, make the needed changes, create a new saved view, and delete the previous view.

Governance domains data observability

At the highest level of business concepts, the governance domain provides the structure and accountability for a portion of the data estate.

1. In Unified Catalog, under Catalog management, select Governance domains.
2. Select a governance domain that you have access to, then select the Observability tab.
3. Select a view from the Current view dropdown menu:
   1. Data Products/Assets displays all of the data products in the domain with all of the assets mapped to each product.
   2. Data Products displays only the data products of the domain.
   3. Assets displays only the assets that are mapped to data products of that domain.
   4. Data Product Lineage displays the inferred lineage between data products of that domain.
   5. Data Asset Linage displays the lineage between the assets used in the data products of the domain.
   6. Data Assets with Data Quality issues displays the assets that have at least one data quality dimension that isn't healthy.
   7. Data Products with Data Quality issues displays the data products that have at least one data quality dimension that isn't healthy.

Data product data observability

For data product owners, the Observability tab on a product's details page provides a quick view of everything within a single data product.

1. In Unified Catalog, select a data product by going to Catalog management > Data products.

2. On the data product's details page, select the Observability tab.

3. Select a view from the Current View dropdown menu:

   1. Assets displays the assets contained within the data product.
   2. Data Assets with Data Quality issues displays the assets with data quality issues that are in the data product.

Glossary term data observability

Glossary terms can link to data and give better context to where certain topics have data available in the governance domains across the data estate.

1. On the glossary term's page, select Observability.
2. The default view displays the glossary term and the connections to the data products from any domain using links to that glossary term.

Data observability in Health management

To view your entire data estate in Unified Catalog, go to Health management, then select Data observability (preview) for a custom view of data observability. This view provides a view of the entire data estate by governance domain by default, called the Data Estate view.

Two other views let you focus on either data assets or data products with data quality issues. The difference is that you can search for specific assets, columns, or business concepts, then add them to the diagram or add them to the diagram with lineage. Adding anything with lineage to the diagram includes all of the lineage connections from end to end for that specific asset, column, or business concept.

Other functions available for custom view:

• Undo: Go back a change in the diagram to the previous view.
• Redo: Go forward a change in the diagram to the view before a user clicked undo.
• Scope to selection: Focus the diagram to the single item selected on the screen.
• Show Lineage: Include all related items that are connected to the focus item at the same level of grain. If you're focused on a column, the diagram includes the column level lineage. If you're focused on an asset, the diagram includes asset level lineage.
• Show non-governed assets: Include all assets included in the lineage of an item even if they're not included in the governed assets of any domain.
• Save Screenshot: Download a picture of the current view for use offline.
• Hierarchy Filter: Select which levels of hierarchy in the concepts are shown. The hierarchy filter enables you to include deeper level of details in any currently scoped view. If the diagram is focused on data products, the hierarchy can be set to include data assets. If it has data assets, the asset schema can be added.