Prerequisites

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Customer Managed Applies to customer-managed instances of Alation

Enhanced Connector Enhanced connectors add extended capabilities and require a separate entitlement in addition to your Alation platform license.

Provide Credentials

The Universal BI connector does not require authentication when you load a CSV file directly, because the file is not secured.

The connector requires authentication details when you load a file over SSH: SSH Host, SSH Port, SSH Username, SSH Password, and Metadata File Path.

The connector requires authentication details when you load a file from an S3 bucket: Region, Bucket Name, AWS Access Key ID, AWS Secret Access Key, and Metadata File Path.

The connector requires authentication details when you load a file from an Azure Storage container: Azure Storage Account Name, Azure Service Principal Auth, Access Key/Shared Access Signature, Azure Storage Container, Azure Storage Endpoint Suffix, and Metadata File Path.

Install the Alation Agent

If you are an Alation Cloud Service customer, ensure that Alation Agent is installed and running. The Alation Agent is mandatory for this connector in ACS deployments.

Install the Alation Connector Manager

If you are an on-premise or self-managed customer, ensure that the Alation Connector Manager (ACM) is installed and running. ACM is mandatory for OCF connectors.

Generate the Metadata CSV File

Generate a metadata CSV file that describes your folders, dashboards, reports, fields, data sources, and connections, then make it available to the connector through direct upload in the Alation UI, SSH, AWS S3, or Azure Blob Storage.

Format the Metadata CSV File

The connector reads the metadata CSV as a column-based file. Each row describes one field of one report. The connector maps each field by its position in the row, not by the header name, so the field order must match the default layout below. You can adjust the position of any field on the Metadata Extraction tab if your file uses a different order.

The recommended default layout uses the following header row:

Folder Name,Folder Description,Dashboard Name,Dashboard Description,Dashboard Owner,Report,Report Description,Report Owner,Field,Field Category,Field Type,Field Expression,Field Values,Datasource,Datasource Description,Datasource Column,Datasource Column Description,Datasource Column Type,Connection Name,Connection Type,Connection FQN,Connection Host,Connection Port,Dashboard Views,Report Views

The following table describes each field, its default position, and whether it is mandatory.

Field	Position	Mandatory	Description
Folder Name	1	No	Folder name. To create a nested folder structure, separate levels with the sub-folder delimiter. See Configure Metadata Extraction.
Folder Description	2	No	Description applied to the folder.
Dashboard Name	3	No	Dashboard name that groups the reports.
Dashboard Description	4	No	Description applied to the dashboard.
Dashboard Owner	5	No	Owner of the dashboard.
Report	6	Yes	Report name. Rows with an empty report name are skipped.
Report Description	7	No	Description applied to the report.
Report Owner	8	No	Owner of the report.
Field	9	Yes	Field name within the report. Rows with an empty field name are skipped.
Field Category	10	No	Field category, for example Dimension or Measure.
Field Type	11	No	Field data type, for example String, Real, or Integer.
Field Expression	12	No	Expression that defines the field, for example SUM(amt).
Field Values	13	No	Sample or allowed values for the field, separated by commas.
Datasource	14	No	Name of the data source that backs the field.
Datasource Description	15	No	Description applied to the data source.
Datasource Column	16	No	Data source column that the field maps to.
Datasource Column Description	17	No	Description applied to the data source column.
Datasource Column Type	18	No	Type of the data source column.
Connection Name	19	No	Name of the connection to the underlying data source.
Connection Type	20	No	Type of the connection, for example Snowflake.
Connection FQN	21	No	Fully qualified name of the connected object, used for lineage.
Connection Host	22	No	Host of the connected data source.
Connection Port	23	No	Port of the connected data source.
Dashboard Views	24	No	Number of dashboard views, as an integer.
Report Views	25	No	Number of report views, as an integer.

If a value is not available for an optional field, leave the field empty. For optional numeric fields, enter -1 when the value is not available. If a value contains a comma or double quote, wrap the value in double quotes. Escape a double quote as "".

The table below shows the value each field holds in a sample data row. In the CSV file, these values appear as a single comma-separated line in the same order as the header.

Field	Example Value
Folder Name	Finance
Folder Description	Finance related Production level Executive Dashboards and reports.
Dashboard Name	Transactions Overview
Dashboard Description	Summary of financial transactions and total spend
Dashboard Owner	Sally Steward
Report	Spend Detail
Report Description	Detailed Spend Report
Report Owner	Sally Steward
Field	CTY
Field Category	Dimension
Field Type	String
Field Expression	(empty)
Field Values	Boston,Miami,Seattle
Datasource	Finance Datasource
Datasource Description	Datasource for finance data
Datasource Column	CTY
Datasource Column Description	Transaction city
Datasource Column Type	String
Connection Name	alation_partner.snowflakecomputing.com/FINANCE.FIN_TX
Connection Type	Snowflake
Connection FQN	ALATION_EDW.FINANCE.FIN_TX
Connection Host	alation_partner.snowflakecomputing.com
Connection Port	-1
Dashboard Views	200
Report Views	30

Because the Field Values example contains commas, in the CSV file it must be wrapped in double quotes as "Boston,Miami,Seattle".