Which data management artifact describes the origin and transformations of data as it flows through systems?

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Data lineage is the artifact that documents where data originates and how it’s transformed as it moves through different systems and pipelines. It tracks the full journey of data—from its source to its final destination—and records the transformations, enrichments, and processing steps it experiences along the way. This provenance is crucial for governance, auditability, impact analysis, and trust, because you can answer questions like where a data item came from, what changes were applied, and where it ultimately ends up.

Data that defines what a data element is, its type, definitions, and allowed values lives in a data dictionary, which explains what the data represents rather than how it moves or changes. A data flow diagram shows the routes data takes between processes, stores, and actors, highlighting pathways and interfaces but not necessarily the full provenance of every transformation across the ecosystem. Data versioning focuses on keeping track of changes across time for a dataset or attribute, recording different versions rather than the broader lineage across systems.