Manage Monitors

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

As a Server Admin or Data Steward, you can create, run, edit, view, delete, or configure settings for any monitor. With other user roles, you would be able to view and analyze the monitors.

Prerequisites

Before using the Alation Data Quality monitoring, ensure you have:

• Platform Requirements: Active Alation Cloud Service instance.

• Network Access: Outbound connectivity to AWS services (if using AI recommendations)

• Valid Licensing: Active Alation Data Quality license.

• Data Sources: Configured data sources with appropriate connectors and service accounts. Alation Data Quality monitors use the service account and default credentials already configured on the data source’s settings page.

• Database Permissions: For a monitor to run successfully, the correct database permissions must be in place. The service account that is configured on the data source’s settings page must have SELECT privileges on every table included in the monitor.

  Note

  The default service account used for metadata extraction, query log ingestion, and column profiling does not automatically have SELECT grants on all objects. You must work with your Data Source Admin or Database Administrator (DBA) to verify and grant these permissions before running a monitor to avoid failures.

  If permissions are insufficient, the monitor will fail and return an error message that specifies which objects were inaccessible. If you need to request SELECT permissions and are unsure who to contact, try the following:

  1. Check for Stewards: Navigate to the data source’s catalog page and check the Stewards field. Stewards can typically direct you to the correct Data Source Admin or DBA.

  2. Find the Data Source Admin (for Server Admins): If you are an Alation Server Admin, you can navigate to the data source page, click More actions (the three dots icon on the top right) > Settings, and open the Access tab to view a list of Data Source Admins.

  3. Find a Server Admin: Click the Help (?) icon in the top-right corner and select About this instance. The Server Admins are listed here and can help you locate the appropriate contacts.

• Query Log Ingestion: Confirm QLI has been configured properly for your data sources. This step is optional but is recommended to ensure that there are no random tables listed in Alation Data Quality (with no popularity data).

Add a Monitor

Alation Data Quality features a streamlined experience accessible on catalog table pages or the Data Quality application.

To add a new monitor:

1. Navigate to the Alation Data Quality application or catalog table page and click Add Monitor.

2. In Select Scope, you can select one or more tables generated based on the popularity data from QLI.

   Note

   You can also use the search option to select and use the filters such as Object Type, Domains, Source, Schema, Tables Type, Flags, Author, or Custom Fields (Status) from the left pane to narrow down the results. This is similar to the catalog search options.

3. Click Continue.

4. In Select Columns section, select one or more columns from the table for checks and click Continue.

5. (Optional) Click Run Profile to use data profiling feature.

   1. In Run Profile section, select a profiling depth: Quick Profile (Shallow) or Full Profile (Deep).

   2. You can either select Profile All Tables or Select Specific Tables to run data profiling.

   3. Click Profile Data.

   4. When data profiling completes, you can view the applied checks on the attributes and its last run details by selecting a table and its column.

   Note

   Service account credentials for the data source are used to run data profiling.

6. In Configure Checks section, add one or more checks on a table or its columns:

   1. To apply checks on the entire table, click Add Table Check .

   2. To add checks on a column, expand each table attribute and click Add Check .

7. Select Category, Metric, and Operator from the dropdown list and add a threshold value. For more information, see Manage Checks.

8. Click Recommend Checks (AI-powered) option to view the suggested checks for a table or column. To apply recommended checks, Click + Add.

   Note

   Service account associated with the data source is used to run the checks.

9. (Optional) View the data profile for a table and its columns using the Data Profiling option on the right pane.

   Note

   This is available if you have profiled the data in the previous step, otherwise you can run the data profiling at this stage too using the same information described in the earlier steps.

10. Click Continue.

11. (Optional) In Anomaly Detection section, click Add Anomaly Metric.

    1. In Anomaly Metric Type, select Table-level or Column-level metrics. This section lists the applicable anomaly metrics depending on the data. For more information, see Monitor Data Anomalies.

    2. Click Create Metric to create it or Add Another Metric to add more metrics.

    Note

    The anomaly metrics require a 30-day warm up period to analyze data patterns. After this period, the anomalies are flagged automatically.

12. Click Continue.

13. In Preview section, use Summary tab to review the summary of the data assets on which you have applied the checks and initiate a test run to validate functionality before full deployment.

    1. To run a test evaluation and see how the checks will perform, click Run Preview.

    2. To review the generated SQL query for each check with estimated runtime, click the Preview Results tab.

    3. To modify the checks after reviewing the test results, click Back.

14. Click Continue.

15. In Configure Monitor section, add details to configure settings for the monitor.

    1. Add a monitor name and its description.

    2. Schedule hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly time for data quality checks.

    3. Schedule either daily or hourly time to detect anomalies.

    Note

    Hourly option is available for the Enterprise+ tier license.

    4. Select the means for notifications: None, Slack, Email, or Teams. For more information, see Configure Data Quality Alerts.

    5. Select the priority level for the checks: Critical, High, Medium, or Low.

    6. Configure incident management by selecting the option: Auto-Create Incident.

       Note

       If enabled, failed checks and detected anomalies are grouped and automatically added to a ticket which syncs to your connected incident management system.

    7. In Advanced Settings, configure the following options:

       1. Use Failed Row Sampling to adjust the number of rows to be included in analysis.

       Default: 500, Maximum: 10,000. For broader patterns, use higher number.

       This is used in failed record and root cause analysis. The individual user account credentials are used to fetch the failed sample rows not the service account (that is associated with the data source).

       2. Create an incident for the failed checks.

       Note

       You can only create one incident per monitor.

16. Click Create Monitor to finalize your monitor setup.

Run a Monitor

After you create a monitor with assets and relevant checks, you need to run the monitor to generate the data quality score. This process applies the checks configured on tables or columns in a data source or a BI report.

1. Navigate to the Alation Data Quality application and click the Monitors tab.

2. Search for the monitor you need to run.

3. Click on the monitor name to open the Monitors page.

4. Perform one of the following steps:

   1. To immediately run the monitor, click Run Now on the top-right corner of the page.

   2. To schedule the monitor run, click the Settings tab.

      1. In the Schedule section, set the schedule to run the monitor either Daily or Weekly, or (Hourly if you have the Enterprise+ tier license)

         • For daily monitoring, set the time for running the monitor.

         • For weekly monitoring, set the day and time for running the monitor.

      2. Click Save.

Manage a Monitor

Monitor maintenance and modifications are accessible when you open a monitor name and browse through the tabs inside it.

1. Navigate to the Alation Data Quality application and click the Monitors tab.

2. Search for the monitor you need to update.

3. Click on the monitor name to open the Monitors page.

4. Use the following tabs to update monitor configuration:

   • Overview: Provides an overview of a monitor for its data quality score, scorecard, most recent failures, incidents, anomaly metrics, and data quality checks graph.

   • Check Results: Provides a list of job runs with its status for a monitor.

     1. Click View Details for check details, generated SQL query, and other options.

     2. To link a check to an incident management system such as Jira, click Link to Existing Incident or use Create New Incident to create a new one.

     3. To perform failed job analysis, go to Actions > View Sample Failed Rows.

        1. Set an active connection to the data source using a default or private connection and your user account credentials.

        2. View the sampled data to analyze the failure cause or download the data in a CSV file for an offline analysis.

     4. To perform a root cause analysis for a failed check, go to Actions > View Root Cause Analysis.

        1. Set an active connection to the data source using a default or private connection and your user account credentials.

        2. View the sample failed data, masked data sample, and schema profiles to further to root cause for the failed check.

     For more detailed information, see Analyze Checks.

   • Anomaly Metric Results: Provides an overview of the detected anomalies at the table and column-level.

     1. View the time-series graph or a heat map for detected anomalies.

        • For table-level metrics, click on metrics to view details.

        • For column-level metrics, click View Details.

     2. Analyze the time-series graph and hover over the detected anomalies or healthy ones for further details and actions.

        • If the detected anomaly is as expected, click Mark as Expected.

        • To confirm the detected anomaly, click Confirm Anomaly.

        • To link the detected anomaly to an incident management system, click Create New Incident or Link to Existing Incident (if you already have one).

        • To mark a healthy pattern as anomaly, click Mark as Anomaly.

   For more detailed information, see Analyze Anomalies.

   • Manage Checks and Metrics: Provides control to add or remove checks and anomaly metrics. You can edit a check but cannot edit anomalies.

     • In Checks, you can perform these actions:

       1. Click Add Table if you need more tables for checks.

       2. Click on the pencil icon to edit checks on the columns.

       3. Select and expand the table and click Add Table Check to add more table checks.

       5. Select and expand the columns, click Add Check to add more checks.

       6. To perform data profiling (available in the right pane), select the table and a column and click Run Profile.

       7. Click Remove Column if you no longer need the column or use Add Column to add a new one.

       8. Click Remove Table if you no longer need the table.

     For more information on checks, see Manage Checks.

     • In Anomaly Metrics, you can perform these actions:

       1. Click Add Table if you need more tables for detecting anomalies.

       2. Click Add Anomaly Metric if you need more metrics to detect anomalies.

       3. Select and expand the columns, click Delete to remove the added anomaly metrics.

       4. Click Remove Table if you no longer need the table.

     For more information on anomalies, see Monitor Data Anomalies.

   • Incidents: Provides the incident name linked to a monitor if you have linked an anomaly (from Anomaly Metric Results tab) or a failed check (from Check Results) to an incident or opted for an auto-created incident during the monitor setup.

   • Settings: Provides monitor configuration options.

     1. Update monitor name or its description.

     2. Change run schedules for data quality checks and anomaly metrics.

     3. Update notifications medium.

     4. Configure incident management

     5. Update priority level for checks.

     6. In Advanced Settings, update failed row sampling number.

     7. Click Save to confirm the changes.

Configure Data Quality Alerts

This section covers configuration details on email, Microsoft Teams, and Slack notifications to receive alerts for a Data Quality monitor run. To configure notifications for Teams or Slack, a Workspace or Team administrator must first install the corresponding Alation application.

Configure Microsoft Teams to Receive Data Quality Notifications

You can configure Alation Data Quality monitors to send notifications directly to a channel in Microsoft Teams starting with the 2025.3 release.

Before you can configure notifications in Alation, a Microsoft Teams Owner who also has an Alation account must perform a one-time setup for each Team that will receive notifications. This process authorizes Alation to send messages to the channels within that team.

1. Install the Alation Anywhere for Microsoft Teams application from the Teams app store if it’s not already installed.

2. Log in to the Alation account as a Team Owner through the Alation Teams application.

3. Add the Alation application to the specific Team:

   1. In Teams, find your Team, click the three-dots menu (…), and select Manage team.

   2. Go to the Apps tab and click Get more apps.

   3. Search for and select the Alation app.

   4. Click Open. In the dialog that appears, select any channel within the Team and click Go.

4. You’ll see a welcome message confirming that the app has been added to the entire Team, making all its channels eligible to receive Alation Data Quality notifications.

5. Proceed with configuring notifications in Alation.

Configure Slack to Receive Data Quality Notifications

You can configure Alation Data Quality monitors to send notifications to a Slack channel by installing the Alation Slack application in your workspace.

Before setting up notifications in Alation, a Slack Workspace Administrator must install and configure the Alation app for your Slack workspace. This one-time setup links your Slack workspace to your Alation instance.

Note

The following steps are a high-level guide. You must follow the standard procedure for installing a third-party Slack application.

1. Install the Alation Anywhere for Slack application if it’s not already installed.

2. You will be redirected to a Slack page to confirm permissions for the app. Approve the permissions to proceed.

3. After granting permissions, you will be redirected to a screen asking for your Alation domain.

4. Enter your Alation instance domain (e.g., mycompany.alationcatalog.com) to complete the link between Slack and Alation.

5. Proceed with configuring notifications in Alation.

Configure Notifications in Alation

1. Navigate to the Alation Data Quality application and click the Monitors tab.

2. Search for the monitor you need to set the notifications for.

3. Click on the monitor name to open the Monitors page.

4. Click the Settings tab.

5. In the Notifications section, choose one of the following:

   1. Select Teams if you wish to receive notifications through Microsoft Teams.

      1. Select the Team where you want to send notifications. This list only shows Teams that have had the Alation app successfully added.

      2. A Channel dropdown will appear. Select the specific channel within the Team to receive the notifications.

      3. Click Save. The monitor summary page will now display the configured Teams channel under Notifications.

   2. Select Slack if you wish to receive notifications on a Slack messenger.

      1. Select the Slack channel to send notifications.

      2. A Channel dropdown will appear, listing the available public channels in your connected Slack workspace.

      3. Select the specific channel to receive the notifications.

      4. Click Save. The monitor summary page will now display the configured Slack channel under Notifications.

   3. Select Email if you wish to receive notifications through email.

      1. Select the email recipients to send notifications.

      2. Click Save.

View Run History

The Run History view provides an audit trail of monitor executions and gives insight into the health of monitored data and the effectiveness of applied quality checks. It allows users to track how checks are performing over time and troubleshoot failing results. Each monitor has its own run history accessible.

Use Run History for the following information:

• Review failed or errored checks daily for critical monitors.

• Track patterns over time to identify recurring data quality issues.

• Use View Details to validate the check logic and determine necessary remediations.

• Export or screenshot job results if needed for audits or data pipeline teams.

To view Run History, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the Alation Data Quality application and click Monitors.

2. Click on a monitor name to select it.

3. In the Monitor page, select the Run History tab.

This view displays the following summary table of each time the monitor ran, either manually or via schedule:

Field	Description
Run Time	The timestamp when the monitor started execution
Status	Overall result of the run (e.g., “Checks Failed”)
Duration	Approximate time taken to complete the monitor run
Failed/Errored	Count of checks that failed or errored out of total active checks
Triggered By	How the monitor was run: “Manual” or by “Schedule”
Message	Execution summary, usually confirming success or error
View Details	Opens a full result breakdown for each check executed during that run

View Execution Details

Use View Details beside any row in the Run History tab to inspect results at the check level.

Field	Description
Job ID / Timestamp	Unique ID and execution window for the job run
Job Message	System confirmation that the job executed successfully
Object Name	The name of the monitored table or column
Check Category	The quality dimension assessed (e.g., Completeness, Validity, Uniqueness)
Check Definition	The exact condition being evaluated
Status	Result: Pass or Fail
Observed Value	Actual result measured during check execution
Status Message	Explanation for why the check passed or failed

Delete a Monitor

You can delete a monitor when you don’t need to monitor a particular table from the data source or BI report.

1. Navigate to the Alation Data Quality application and click the Monitors tab.

2. Search for the monitor you need to delete.

3. Click on the monitor name to open the Monitors page.

4. Click the Settings tab.

5. In the top-right corner of the Settings tab, click Delete Monitor.