Configure Data Quality Monitoring for a CDE

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

The Data Quality section on the Critical Data Element (CDE) detail page lets you set up and track data quality monitoring for a CDE without leaving Critical Data Manager (CD Manager).

From this section, you can review the data quality monitors that already watch the CDE’s Physical Data Elements (PDEs).

You can also start a guided wizard to create a new monitor for the PDEs you select. This keeps data quality authoring in the CDE context, so you don’t need to open the Data Quality area separately to find the relevant tables and columns.

In this topic:

Prerequisites

Before you configure data quality monitoring for a CDE, ensure that:

  • The CDE has at least one Physical Data Element assigned the Control Point relationship in its Data Assets section. Only Control Points are eligible for data quality monitoring in this flow. For information on assigning relationships, see the Assign Data Assets section of Manage Critical Data Elements.

  • At least one eligible Control Point is on a data source that Alation Data Quality supports. Control Points on unsupported sources cannot be monitored through this flow. For the current list of supported sources, see Supported Data Sources.

  • You have one or more data quality standards available to apply to the monitor.

About the Data Quality Section

The Data Quality section is a collapsible panel below the Physical Data Elements section on the CDE detail page. It lists the data quality monitors that watch the PDEs linked to the CDE.

Each row in the grid represents a monitor and shows the monitor’s schedule, last run, status, data quality score, and number of checks. To open a monitor or remove it, use the actions menu at the end of its row. See Manage an Existing Monitor.

When the CDE has no monitors yet, the section displays an empty state with an Add Data Quality button that starts the wizard.

Add a Data Quality Monitor

The Add Data Quality wizard guides you through four steps: selecting the PDEs to monitor, selecting the data quality standards to apply, adding optional row filters, and setting a schedule. When you complete the wizard, Alation creates a single data quality monitor that covers the Control Point PDEs you selected.

To add a data quality monitor:

  1. In CD Manager > Critical Data Elements, click the name of the CDE you want to monitor.

  2. Scroll to the Data Quality section and click Add Data Quality. The wizard opens.

  3. On the Select Columns step, select the Control Point PDEs you want to monitor:

    • Alation pre-selects eligible Control Points on supported data sources so you can continue immediately. Clear the checkbox for any PDE you do not want to include.

    • PDEs on unsupported data sources appear in a separate group, and you cannot select them.

    • You must select at least one PDE to continue.

    Click Next.

  4. On the Data Quality Standards step, select one or more data quality standards to apply. Alation selects all available standards by default. The step summarizes how many checks will run based on your selection. Click Next.

  5. On the Apply Filters step (optional), narrow the rows that the checks evaluate by specifying a partition column, time window, or skip filter. This step uses the same filtering controls as the standalone Data Quality flow. Click Next.

  6. On the Schedule and Launch step, choose how often the monitor runs: Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly, or a custom cron schedule. Review the summary, which recaps the selected PDEs, standards, checks, filters, and schedule.

  7. Click Create to finish the wizard. A confirmation message appears, and Alation adds the new monitor to the Data Quality section grid.

The monitor’s first run occurs on its next scheduled run. To view results before then, open the monitor in the Data Quality area.

Note

DQ monitors are associated with PDEs (columns), not with the CDE itself.

  • If multiple CDEs share the same PDEs, the associated DQ monitors will appear in all of those CDEs.

  • Removing a PDE from a CDE may cause a DQ monitor to disappear from that CDE’s list. This happens when the monitor has no other monitored PDE that still exists in the given CDE.

Manage an Existing Monitor

The actions menu on each monitor row in the Data Quality section lets you open the monitor in the Data Quality area.

  • Open the monitor: Go to the monitor in the Data Quality area, where you can view check results and history and edit the monitor’s checks, thresholds, and schedule. CD Manager does not replicate the Data Quality configuration interface; ongoing monitor management happens in the Data Quality area. For more information, see Manage Data Quality Monitors.

  • Delete the monitor: In the Data Quality area, open the monitor and click Edit > Delete Monitor. Deleting a monitor stops its scheduled runs.