Working with Diagrams

Overview of Diagrams

Diagrams are a key feature of QUBEdocs.  They are provided at various levels of detail to help understand models and trace data flows.  QUBEdocs contains:

• Environment Diagrams
• Model Diagrams
• Application Diagrams
• Detailed Object diagrams

These are explained below. 

Environment Diagrams

Environment Diagrams provide a view of all the models that exist within a logical grouping - typically Production, QA, and Development. Models are displayed by default but can be expanded to show the applications that have been documented for a given model. Flows can also be established between models that exist in the environment. 

Model  and Application Diagrams

The Model Diagram is one of the key diagrams in QUBEdocs. It enables you to view and conceptualize the dependencies and data flows that exist in the models.  Application diagrams provide a similar analysis but typically reflect a user-defined sub section of a model. 

From the diagrams:

-  Specific types of flows can be isolated such as TM1 Rule and TurboIntegrator flows 

- Relationships (lines) can be drilled down on to see what defines them

- Models can be drilled down on for a more detailed analysis 

For example, clicking on a cube in the Model Diagram will take you through to the specific cube Diagram screen where you are able to navigate through the tabs to gain deeper insights into the relationships and dependencies and even trace the lineage / connections back to data sources or other models. 

Navigating through Diagrams

The Model Summary Flows Diagram is normally first diagram that you see in QUBEdocs Cloud and the Environment Diagram in QUBEdocs Local.  

When you first view the Model page you can use the dropdown list above the diagram, to switch to different diagram types to get a different view of the same model.

The Rule and Process Flows diagram differentiates between relationships that are rule based and process based. Process flows are shown in light blue and rule flows are in dark grey.

The Process Flows diagram shows only cubes that that have data flows defined by TurboIntegrator processes. This eliminates any rule-driven relationships and shows only the process-driven parts of the model.

The Rule Flow diagram shows the opposite of the previous diagram, showing only the rule-driven relationships of the model.

The model can be drilled down upon for more detail. Clicking one of the cubes or arrows will take you to a more detailed analysis.

Setting Advanced Filters 

Using the Advanced Filters area, you can create a personalized view of your model.  This feature enables you to remove cubes you don’t wish to see from the model diagram, to create a succinct and personalized view of your model.

To do this, select the Advanced Filters dropdown arrow.

The default filter is set to Diagram Excludes. This means that as you select cubes in the drop-down list, it and all its relationships will be removed from the diagram. This can be changed to Diagram Includes by selecting the toggle. When set to Include, only the cubes you select will be shown in the diagram model. The first option is great to filter out cubes that are unwanted or skew the diagrams while the second option allows you to draw custom diagrams. 

Select the cubes you wish to remove and then click the refresh button to the right. In this example we are going to remove the zDates, PL Detail and Revenue cubes.

You will see the diagram change from the original diagram;

To one with the Advanced Filter applied;

You can now view the model without impact from cubes and relationships that you do not wish to see.

By default, the filter is applied to the Summary Flow view, however, you can apply this filter to other diagrams, such as the Process Flows or Rule Flows. Select the filter icon in the advanced filters icon settings. Select the diagram you wish to apply it to (you can select more than one), and click refresh. The diagram will update to reflect this change.

Saving Diagrams

To save this filter, select the save icon in the advanced filters icon options to the right.

You have the option to Save as Default Diagram. This replaces the summary flows diagram with the one you just created.

The second option is to Save as New Diagram. This will create a new diagram in the dropdown list for you to view as you please.

The default option is to Save as Default Diagram. To change to Save as New Diagram, select the toggles as above. Rename the diagram and click OK.

You can now use the dropdown list to select the new diagram, in this case we named it “High Priority Flows”

Removing Diagrams

To delete a diagram from the list, ensure you have it selected, then navigate to the icon options under Advanced Filters and select the trash icon. Select OK to the popup message, and the filter will be removed.

Advanced filters in the Environment Diagrams

Advanced Filters can also be applied on the Environment Diagram. The same functionality applies from the Model Diagram's Advanced Filters, with an extra feature strictly for Environment Diagrams.

The Diagram Excludes filter and the setting icons have the same functionality as explained above, the lower half has functionality that is only applicable to Environment Diagrams. 

By default, each model will be ticked to be included in the diagram. If you wish to exclude a model, untick the blue box and select Refresh. 

The grey arrow icon to the right of the model name allows you to expand the model icon to include the main flows. To enable this, click the grey icon against the model you wish to expand.

Select the Refresh button and view the change in diagram. 

Original Environment Diagram;

Environment Diagram after expansion; 

You are now able to see the key relationships that exist within the QDDev Model, in the Environment Diagram.