Introduction:
Organizations are increasingly becoming aware of the need for visibility into the way that information flows across the extended information enterprise and the governance characteristics of data in motion. Data lineage is the key to providing this visibility, and this whitepaper examines ways that data lineage empowers data stewards to operationalize key aspects of data governance. David Loshin begins with a definition of data lineage, which is followed by a description of how data lineage supports a variety of key operational data stewardship activities. The paper concludes with suggestions of some technical capabilities to look for in a solution providing support for data lineage. Data lineage augments the organization’s toolkit for empowering data stewards to implement data governance.