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Assess impact before merging code changes

Updated yesterday

Introduction

Catch data issues before they reach production. Foundational analyzes pull requests to identify breaking schema changes, detect semantic bugs, and track downstream dependencies affected by your code. This pre-merge impact analysis is a unique capability that 'shifts left' data quality. Instead of monitoring incidents after they happen, Foundational helps to prevent them.

How it works

Foundational's impact analysis integrates with your development workflow.

Impact analysis of pull requests: When you open a pull request, Foundational analyzes the code changes and identifies which assets (tables, views, and transformations) are added, modified, or removed. Foundational assesses the impact and tags it (small scale, large etc.). It’s also one of the filter options.
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Quality checks: Foundational flags issues like schema changes that might break downstream consumers or transformations that reference non-existent sources.

Downstream impact: The impact analysis shows which assets and systems are affected by the changes in your code. This includes those impacted directly (e.g., views built on your table) and those impacted indirectly across multiple platforms (e.g., BI dashboards that query those views).

Results appear as comments in your native source control system pull requests, like GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket etc., giving you visibility of potential impact before approving merges.

Impact analysis use cases

Use the Impact Analysis page to perform these actions. To see the steps, go to Actions.

Impact Analysis UI

To get started, why not Take the tour to get a very quick review of the Impact Analysis page. From the menu panel, click the Support icon and go to Tasks > Impact Analysis for Changes.
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Impact Analysis page (Pull Requests panel open)
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The page has several elements with several dropdowns and options to expand/collapse sections.
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① Pull request summary
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② Issues. Click to view new and fixed issues
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③ Modified assets / downstream/upstream impacts
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④ Icon to open the Pull Request panel
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⑤ Lineage graph: Changes are colored
(red = removed, orange = modified, green = added)
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⑥ Header: Layout graph on canvas, Share (download), Collapse toggle, Zoom
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⑦ Downstream impact. Click to expand. Visible when downstream assets are affected
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⑧ Scan date and time log for the selected pull request

Pull Requests panel details

① Dropdowns to view pull requests and change history
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② Pull request tabs for Open, Merged and Closed statuses
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③ Pull request details
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④ Downstream impact: Large, medium, small, no impact. You can also filter pull requests by impact.
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⑤ Change History panel

Actions

Discover data assets

Open an asset directly in its source platform

  1. Open the Data Catalog and select an asset.
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  2. From the left panel, select Data Definitions.
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  3. From the center panel, click the platform name, then View this entity in source platform.
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  4. The asset opens in its native platform interface. For code, the code snippet displays immediately.

Understand data context

Identify asset owners

  1. Select an asset.
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  2. Click Documentation.
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    • In Data Catalog: Documentation appears in the left sidebar

    • From other pages: Click the Info icon on the asset, then click Documentation in the Inspector panel
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  3. Locate the Owners section.
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  4. To add an owner, click the + icon.
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  5. In the search field, type the person's name to find them.
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  6. To remove an owner, click the Bin icon next to their name.

Trace data lineage upstream and downstream

Use lineage to understand data flow in both directions.

  • Trace upstream to find source data and understand where values originate.

  • Trace downstream to see which reports, dashboards, and processes depend on this asset—critical for impact analysis before making changes.

To view asset-level lineage:

  1. In the lineage graph, hover over an asset. An Info icon appears.
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  2. Click the Info icon to open the Inspector panel.
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  3. In the Inspector panel, review the lineage information:
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    • Upstream count: Number of sources that feed data into this asset

    • Downstream count: Number of consumers that use data from this asset

Alternatively, do this:

  • Click the + icon to the right of the asset (asset/column) to view downstream.

  • Click the + icon to the left of the asset (asset/column) to view upstream.

To view column-level lineage:

  1. Click the down arrow ↓ on an asset to expand and show its columns.
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  2. Hover over a specific column. An Info icon appears.
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  3. Click the Info icon to open the Inspector panel.
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  4. In the Inspector panel, review the column's upstream and downstream lineage.

To navigate the graph:

  • Click and drag to pan

  • Scroll to zoom in/out

  • Use controls to expand or collapse assets

View asset details in the Inspector panel

The Inspector panel displays information from the Data Catalog, allowing you to review documentation, costs, usage, and quality issues in context.

  1. On the Lineage page or Impact Analysis page, hover over any asset in the graph.
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  2. An Info icon appears on the asset. Click it. The Inspector panel opens on the right side with tabs:
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    • General: Overview, metadata, and asset documentation.

    • Costs: Cost metrics

    • Usage: Usage patterns

Export and share lineage graphs

  1. From the header, click Share and download.
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  2. To share using a link, click Share on the Lineage page.

Prevent data quality issues

View past changes to understand their impact

  1. On the Impact Analysis page, click the icon next to the pull request ID to open the Pull Requests panel.
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  2. Click the Merged tab to view recently merged pull requests and select a pull request.
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  3. The lineage graph displays the assets that were modified by the change.
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  4. Review the Downstream Impact section to see which assets were affected after the change merged.
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  5. Use this analysis to understand the impact of past changes and identify patterns that may help with future reviews.

Assess downstream impact before merging code changes

  1. On the Impact Analysis page with a PR selected, locate the Downstream Impact section in the left panel and click Downstream Impact to expand it (if collapsed).
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  2. The center area displays a lineage graph showing connections between modified assets and downstream consumers.
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  3. Hover over any downstream asset in the graph and click the Info icon to open the Inspector panel from the Data Catalog showing asset details.
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  4. Review whether downstream assets will break, require updates, or need coordination with owners before merging.

Review Pull Request Issues

  1. Open the Impact Analysis page. The left panel displays:
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    • Pull Requests: The most recently viewed pull request opens and displays the lineage graph.

    • New Issues: Count of new issues detected

    • Fixed Issues: Count of issues resolved

    • Modified Assets: Count of tables and columns changed

    • Downstream Impact: Affected downstream assets.
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  2. Click the icon next to a pull request ID in the left panel to open the Pull Requests panel. The Pull Requests panel has tabs for:
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    • Open: Pending pull requests

    • Merged: Recently merged pull requests

    • Closed: Closed pull requests without merging
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  3. Select a specific pull request. The center area displays a lineage graph showing the modified assets and downstream dependencies.
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  4. Review the New Issues and Fixed Issues counts in the left panel to understand the quality impact of the proposed changes.
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  5. Click New Issues or Fixed Issues to see the details.

Related Articles
View all downstream/upstream for a table/column
Solution architecture
Use the Data Catalog
Track asset usage and costs
Explore data lineage and dependencies
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