Use Connected Sheets

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Download Directly Into Spreadsheets

Once you’ve signed into your Alation Cloud Service instance, click Browse Catalog to Download to view supported database instances:

The Catalog Browser dialog appears:

You can navigate the catalog in three ways:

1. You can click through the object hierarchy; data sources and queries are available.

2. You can use search to find data objects.

   Note

   Search strings are applied on the Name, Title, and Description of the objects.

3. You can paste an object catalog URL into the search box.

As you click through objects, you can view metadata information from the catalog—including any curation information such as trust check flags showing Endorsements, Warnings, or Deprecations:

When you have found a table or query you are interested in, click Next to connect to the relevant database. You are prompted to Save the Username and Password for the database:

You can preview data with filters or sort criteria before the download. You can also select the order of columns in the downloaded data. On query objects, you can apply filters only if the query supports customizable filter criteria:

You must provide a sheet name for the downloaded data set. The data set will be downloaded into a new sheet by default, or you can override this by selecting Insert into active cell.

When you are satisfied with your filters and sort criteria, click Download Data to complete the download:

Note

There is a limit of 10 million cells in a connected Google Sheet. If you attempt to download more data than will fit into 10 million cells, you will see an error message.

Manage Downloaded Data Configurations

Alation Connected Sheets provides a snapshot of all the download dataset configurations in a spreadsheet and provides easy manageability to:

• Instantly refresh data

• Schedule and manage auto-refresh for the data set

• Edit data source credentials

• View the data in the catalog

• Edit a downloaded configuration

• Delete a downloaded configuration

The list of datasets also shows any trust flags available:

You can expand the view to see pertinent information on the trust flags with a link to view all information in the catalog:

Schedule Auto-refresh

Alation Connected Sheets makes it easy to refresh data and supports the following cadences:

• Hourly: Every 2, 4, 6, 8, or 12 hours from a start time

• Daily: Every day at a certain time (hour, minute) of a chosen time zone

• Weekly: Every week, on one or more days at a particular time (hour, minute, and timezone)

• Monthly: Every month on a specific day of month and time (hour, minute) of a chosen time zone

Status of the auto-refresh schedule will be reflected in the download sheet snapshot view. You can also opt for notifications for success, failure, or both:

Note

If using Alation Connected Sheets in Excel, auto-refresh is available only if the spreadsheet is stored in OneDrive or SharePoint.

Edit a Configuration

When you select Edit Configuration from the options menu, you are taken to the Data Preview page, where your options are determined by whether you initially chose a table or a query. If a table, you can change the set of columns selected, their order, filters applied, and sort order. If a query, you can change filters only if the query supports customizable filter criteria.

Make your changes, and then click Update. The configuration is updated to reflect your changes.

Sharing Connected Sheets

You can share Connected Sheets created with Google Sheets, along with those Connected Sheets created in Excel and stored either in OneDrive or SharePoint. Excel Connected Sheets stored on a local file system cannot be shared.

To share a Connected Sheet:

1. Click the Share icon in the Alation Connected Sheets sidebar:

   

   The Share Dataset Connection opens:

   

2. Click the Add Users dropdown. An alphabetical list of users with access to the current spreadsheet appears. You can select from the list or provide an email address to invite a new user.

3. Select a user and click Add. The selected user appears under Who Has Access.

4. Assign the desired level of access, either Can View or Can Refresh. Can View access allows the selected user to view the downloaded data and view the data source in the Alation catalog. Refresh access allows the selected user to view and refresh the downloaded data in the shared sheet.

5. Specify whether the selected user must use their own credentials to access the data source or to use shared credentials. When shared credentials are allowed, users with Refresh access can refresh the data source even if they don’t have credentials for the data source saved. If users are required to use their own credentials, they will need to update the credentials before refreshing the sheet.

Using the Connected Sheets Hub

The Connected Sheets Hub gives catalog and server admins a convenient view of the Connected Sheets shared in your organization. To access the Hub, ensure that you are logged into Alation as a Catalog Admin or Server Admin and click Connected Sheets from the Apps menu. The Connected Sheets Hub appears:

There are two tabs—by default, the All Connected Sheets tab opens.

For each shared Connected Sheet, the Hub shows the file name, file location (Google Drive, OneDrive, or SharePoint), the associated data source, the file owner, and the time the file was last updated. Click the plus sign at the left of any sheet to see more information, including the dataset name and refresh schedule, if any:

To view only those Connected Sheets owned by you, select the My Connected Sheets tab:

While you can see all the shared Connected Sheets from the Hub, you can only open those that have been shared with you individually.