For example, multiple reports in a business intelligence tool use a table in an Oracle database. A column is added to the table. You can view the impact summary of the Oracle table to find the list of business intelligence reports that might be impacted by this change.

Metadata Manager displays an impact summary for metadata objects that are directly involved in the data flow. You can view an impact summary for objects such as business intelligence reports and attributes, PowerCenter mappings and session task instances, data modeling entities and attributes, and relational tables and columns. Metadata Manager also displays an impact summary for business terms.

Metadata Manager does not display an impact summary for metadata objects that are not directly involved in the data flow. Therefore, Metadata Manager does not display an impact summary for objects such as business intelligence queries, PowerCenter workflows, data modeling diagrams, or relational indexes. Metadata Manager does not display an impact summary for metadata objects in custom resources.

When you view a metadata object in the metadata catalog, the impact summary lists the high-level objects that impact and are impacted by the object that you are viewing. High-level objects are the parent data structures of metadata objects that are directly involved in the data flow. High-level objects include objects such as reports, tables, PowerCenter mappings, and PowerCenter session task instances. The impact summary does not list lower-level objects that are involved in the data flow, such as columns, data attributes, and fields.

When you view a metadata object, the impact summary displays the following details:

When you view a business term, the impact summary lists the high-level objects that impact and are impacted by the related catalog objects of the business term. For example, you relate business term "Sales Price" with Oracle column S_PRICE. When you view the business term, the impact summary lists the objects that impact and are impacted by Oracle column S_PRICE.