Data Consumption¶
Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation
Data Consumption is the part of the CDE Manager you use to create, review, certify, and manage Data Consumptions (DCs). A Data Consumption represents a business-critical use case where data is consumed, such as regulatory reports, financial filings, or operational dashboards. The Data Consumption Registry helps you track which CDEs are used in each consumption and apply governance standards to ensure data quality and compliance.
You begin populating the registry after reviewing the default CDE standards and creating any additional Template Overlay standards required for your governance program. For information on standards, see Manage CDE Standards.
Creating Data Consumptions is an AI-assisted process. You can create a DC by entering a name and description manually, selecting an existing BI report from the catalog, or uploading a PDF document that describes the data consumption scenario. AI suggests Critical Data Elements (CDEs) that should be associated with the consumption, applies published standards, and assesses risk.
In this topic:
Add a New Data Consumption¶
Prerequisites¶
To create and manage Data Consumptions, you must have one of the following roles:
Server Admin
Catalog Admin
Data Steward assigned to the Data Consumption
Before creating a Data Consumption, ensure that you have created and published all necessary CDE standards.
Optionally, prepare one of the following source materials to help the AI agent extract metadata:
A PDF document that describes the data consumption scenario. These documents might contain report specifications, data requirements, compliance details, or any other relevant information about how critical data is used. The maximum file size is 50 MB.
Note
Scanned or image-only PDFs are not supported. The document must contain extractable text.
An existing BI report in your catalog that you want to associate with the Data Consumption. The following BI connector types are supported: Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, Looker, and other Alation-cataloged BI sources.
If you don’t have source material, you can create a Data Consumption manually by entering a name and description. The AI agent uses the description as context to help define the consumption.
Data Consumption Lifecycle¶
A Data Consumption moves through the following lifecycle stages:
Candidate: Initial state. AI starts processing the request.
Draft: AI generates the content, and you can edit it.
In Review: You can submit the Data Consumption for review to authorized approvers.
Certified: The Data Consumption is reviewed and approved.
Create a New Data Consumption¶
To create a new Data Consumption:
In CDE Manager > Data Consumption, click + Add New Data Consumption. The Create data consumption wizard opens.
On the Upload Report step, choose how to create the Data Consumption. You can select from Catalog or upload a document:
Click Select from Catalog. In the search popover, search for and select the BI report you want to associate with this consumption. The selected report appears in the Selected report section.
Click Upload Files and select a PDF file. The uploaded file appears in the Selected file section. The maximum file size is 50 MB.
Click Continue to proceed.
The Map Critical Data step begins automatically. During this step, the AI agent extracts metadata from the uploaded file or from the selected BI report and suggests Critical Data Elements (CDEs) that should be associated with the consumption. This process typically takes up to 10 minutes depending on file size.
You can close the wizard and return later. The processing continues in the background.
Click + Link More CDEs to associate additional existing CDEs with the consumption while the agent is processing.
Click + Create More CDEs to create new CDEs in the registry and link them to the consumption while the agent is processing.
When processing completes, click Confirm & Continue to proceed to the next step.
On the Add standards step:
Review the default standards that are automatically applied to all Data Consumptions.
Click Add Standard to include additional Template Overlay standards as needed.
Remove any non-default standards that don’t apply by clicking the remove icon.
Click Continue to proceed. The AI agent then analyzes all assigned standards and suggests values for their fields.
On the Confirm Metadata step:
Review all standard and field values suggested by the AI agent based on the assigned standards and connected CDEs.
For each field, either accept the suggested value or modify it as needed. The agent then assesses the risk based on these values and all connected CDEs.
Click Mark completed to confirm individual fields, or Confirm & Continue to accept all values and proceed to the risk assessment step.
Optionally, click Complete Later to save your progress and return to this step later. The Data Consumption remains in Candidate status until you complete this step.
The Assess Risk step begins automatically. During this step, the AI agent reviews all connected CDEs, standards, and their metadata to assess risk. This typically takes 1-5 minutes.
You can close the wizard and return later. The processing continues in the background.
When processing completes, click Continue to proceed.
On the Assess Risk step:
Review the AI-suggested Risk Level (High, Medium, or Low). The default labels (High, Medium, or Low) for risk levels can be changed in Risk Assessment standard.
Review the Risk Assessment rationale explaining why this level was assigned.
Accept the suggested risk level, or modify it by selecting a different level and updating the rationale.
Click Continue to complete the wizard.
After completing the wizard, the Data Consumption is saved in Draft status. You can continue editing it from the Data Consumption detail page or click Submit for Review when ready.
Click Review and feedback to approve or reject the Data Consumption.
Click Approve to certify the Data Consumption. It becomes part of the catalog, is included in the registry, and is monitored and governed.
Click Reject to send the Data Consumption back to draft status for further edits.
Click Submit review.
Manage Data Consumptions¶
After creating a Data Consumption, you can view and manage it from the Data Consumption detail page. The detail page shows the Data Consumption name, owner, risk level, linked CDEs, version history, and status. The available actions depend on the Data Consumption status and your permissions.
Create a New Draft Version¶
When a Data Consumption is certified, you can create a new draft version to make updates without affecting the certified version. This lets you revise the Data Consumption while the existing certified version remains active and governed.
Note
Only administrators and owners of a certified Data Consumption can create a new draft version.
To create a new draft version:
In CDE Manager > Data Consumption, locate the certified Data Consumption in the Data Consumption table.
Click the Data Consumption name to open the detail page.
Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and select Create New Draft Version. A confirmation dialog appears.
Review the confirmation message and click Continue to proceed.
You can edit the draft, update CDEs or standards, and submit it for review when ready. The original certified version remains active until the new version is certified.
Limitations¶
The following limitations apply to Data Consumptions in this release:
BI report column pre-filtering by BI data source is not yet available. Pre-filters currently support RDBMS data sources only.
Scanned or image-only PDFs are not supported. The PDF must contain extractable text. If your document is a scanned image, run OCR preprocessing before uploading.
You cannot combine multiple source documents into a single Data Consumption onboarding flow. However, multiple source documents can be used by merging them to one PDF file.
Automated recertification scheduling is not available in this release.
View Data Consumption Entries in the Catalog¶
When you create and certify Data Consumptions through the Data Consumption wizard, Alation represents them as Data Consumption assets in the catalog. Each Data Consumption asset can contain one or more Virtual PDE (Physical Data Element) child objects that represent the physical data elements associated with that consumption.
These catalog assets are service-managed—the CDE backend creates and maintains them automatically. You cannot create or configure Data Consumption or Virtual PDE assets manually through the catalog interface.
Find Data Consumption Assets¶
To locate Data Consumption assets in the catalog:
Open Alation Search.
In the search results, look under the CDE search group. Data Consumption and Virtual PDE assets appear in this group.
Click a Data Consumption asset name to open its catalog page.
Note
Data Consumption and Virtual PDE asset types only appear in search results when at least one asset of that type exists in your tenant.
Data Consumption Catalog Page¶
The Data Consumption catalog page displays the following:
Description: The description of the Data Consumption.
PDEs table: A table listing the Virtual PDE child objects associated with this Data Consumption. Click a Virtual PDE name to navigate to its catalog page.
Properties panel: The sidebar displays properties including:
CDE: A clickable link that navigates to the associated CDE in the CDE Registry.
Data Consumption: A clickable link that navigates to the CC Registry entry for this consumption.
Additional metadata properties such as business name and raw name.
Virtual PDE Catalog Page¶
The Virtual PDE catalog page displays the following:
Description: The description of the Physical Data Element.
Properties panel: The sidebar displays properties including:
CDE: A clickable link that navigates to the associated CDE in the CDE Registry.
Data Consumption: A clickable link that navigates to the parent Data Consumption in the CC Registry.