Table Name in BI Datasource Fields Catalog Page

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Applies from 2025.3.1

The BI Datasource Fields catalog page includes the Table Name column for each field. You can also search and filter by table name to locate relevant fields. Additionally, it allows you to identify the origin of fields in BI datasources and improves the overall field discoverability.

When you enable the feature flag, the Table Name column appears on the Fields tab of the BI Datasource catalog page (see Enable or Disable Table Name Column). If table names are available in the BI metadata, they are displayed in this column. However, if a table name cannot be determined, the field appears blank.

Note

The feature is available in both Classic and New User Experience.

../../_images/TableName_Fieldstab.png

For example, if a datasource includes fields from multiple tables, such as Orders, Customers, and Products, the Fields tab displays the corresponding table name for each field. You can then filter fields by typing the table name (for example, Orders) in the search box.

Enable or Disable Table Name Column

To display the Table Name column in the BI Datasource Fields catalog page, you must enable the Display Table Names in BI Datasource Fields feature flag in Admin settings if it was previously disabled. This flag is enabled by default.

Note

You must have a Server Administrator role to enable this option.

  1. Open the Admin Settings page, click Feature Configuration.

  2. Turn on the Display Table Names in BI Datasource Fields toggle.

  3. Click Save Changes.

Table name population is handled as part of the lineage pipeline job. As a result, the time taken by the lineage job will increase depending on the number of datasource columns.

When the flag is disabled, the Table Name column will not be displayed, and search or filter by table name will not be available. However, disabling the flag does not affect metadata or lineage extraction.

Limitations

  • Table name is not available for report-level fields.

  • Global Search does not support searching by table name. Search is limited to the Fields tab.

  • Table names may not be displayed if fields are renamed in BI tools (for example, in Power BI).

  • For some query-based connections, the table name may not be available. If it cannot be resolved, the column will remain blank.

Troubleshooting

When working with the Table Name column, you may encounter the following behaviors:

Type of Error

Reason

Solution

Missing Table Name column

Feature flag is disabled.

Enable Display Table Names in BI Datasource Fields in Admin settings.

Table Name is empty for some fields

Table name not available from metadata.

This is expected behavior for some BI tools or renamed columns.

Search by Table Name not working

Feature flag is disabled or API not updated.

Verify that /api/v2/bi_datasource_column/ includes table_name and confirm the flag is enabled.

Classic/Neo UI differences

Earlier Alation versions or disabled flag.

On earlier versions, the Table Name column will not appear.

MDE failures due to this feature

Unknown error while processing the datasource columns in the lineage pipeline

Disable Display Table Names in BI Datasource Fields in Admin settings for MDE to proceed without errors.