This information is to provide a brief overview of the functions and capabilities found within an EDM Council (EDMC) Read-Only Solidatus Model and step-by-step instructions for importing or updating a Solidatus Model created by EDMC into another Solidatus environment. Solidatus[i], an EDMC DCAM Authorized Partner (DAP), is an award-winning data lineage and visualization application that allows the user to see the mapping between DCAM Components, Capabilities, and Sub-capabilities and aspects of related documents.

The links provided in the DCAM Tools[ii] page located in EDMConnect[iii] give members access to various Solidatus models.

Note: Users must be signed-in to EDMConnect to access this content.

How to interact with a read-only model?

When opening a model for the first time, a blue box appears on the screen that displays a series of standard tutorial slides. Once closed, these slides are accessible by choosing Intro slides from the Help menu. Following the intro slides, a model description is displayed, which provides an introductory text, an explanation of the model’s structure and views, and additional resource links. Once closed, the description is accessible at any time while viewing the model by 1) selecting description from the top of the right-hand sidebar, or 2) selecting the title of the model at the top of the window to access the model’s dashboard.

When viewing a model, several features provide an enhanced and interactive experience.  These features include, “Views,” “Show trace,” “Properties,” and zoom settings. The following section describes and provides illustrations of each of these features. For more detailed descriptions and help within the Solidatus user-interface, navigate to the Help menu (top right) to browse the Help Overlay feature and Documentation.

Views

When a model is accessed, the user is directed to the default View. The default view has been designed by the EDM Council to provide an introduction to the knowledge mapping content. However, additional Views emphasize various data lineage concepts within the model. Examples of this include expanded (i.e., detailed) model, isolated content, and isolated metadata (i.e., properties).  

Note: When the Reset view option is selected, the model returns to a fully collapsed state with no customized Rules or Filters.

Show Trace

The Show trace feature allows the user to highlight the linage of all reachable items from the currently selected object or attribute. After choosing an object or attribute within the model, choose the Show trace button to highlight the mapping. Furthermore, choose the target icon next to the Show trace button to isolate the highlighted object or attribute and its associated mapping.

Properties

Rules can display Properties (i.e., additional metadata) in a variety of ways. Tags show visual metadata on the model (e.g., object type, priority level, concept type).  These tags are visible after selecting a view and appear as a colored icon located to the left or right of a layer, object, or attribute name. On mouseover (i.e., hover the mouse pointer over the tag), a description of the tag is displayed. In some instances, an object or attribute contains additional properties within its metadata. To view this metadata, select the desired object or attribute and navigate to the properties window on the right-hand side of the screen.  If this window is not visible, select the tab located in the top right-hand corner titled Sidebar. This window contains all the metadata associated with the model and the selected object or attribute.

Zoom Settings

The zoom settings, located in the lower portion of the sidebar menu, allow the user to adjust the scale, width, and spacing of layers and text within the model. To increase/decrease the width of objects and attributes in the model, select the +/- buttons located at the bottom-left of the sidebar menu.

Use +/- buttons located at the bottom-right of the sidebar menu to adjust the spacing in between layers (i.e., columns) This feature allows an enhanced view of the mapping arrows. When Reset is selected, the view will return to the left-hand side of the model and reset the zoom to 100%. 

Note: If text is running outside of the model space, mouse over the object or attribute to display its full text or select the object or attribute to view its full text in the properties window.

How to Import or Update a Model in your Environment

Importing a New Model

To import a new model to your environment, first verify which version of Solidatus you are running, as this will determine which type of file you need to import.

• Solidatus version 3: BSON file
• Solidatus version 4: SOL file

If requested, EDMC delivers the Solidatus model as a BSON or SOL file ready for import. A BSON or SOL file generated out of Solidatus is a full export of the model, including the model’s description, rules, filters, and views, which EDMC customizes for each model. Unfortunately, the model description does not transfer with the BSON file. EDMC describes each model in the model description to orient the user to the data lineage concepts presented in the model. To preserve the model description with a BSON file format, copy the description from the read-only model and paste it in the model description text box. However, if you’re importing an SOL file, no information will be lost in the transfer.

Note: As of this writing, Solidatus’ versions are forward compatible, not backward compatible, which means that if you are not running the latest version of Solidatus, it is possible to experience a loss of the model’s description, rules, filters, and views during a BSON file import, since EDMC always runs the latest version of Solidatus. If this occurs, please contact EDMC to find a solution.

How to Import

1. Start by creating a new lineage model in your Solidatus environment.

Note: The model owner is the user who initially creates the new lineage model.

2. Provide the model with a name and either paste in the model’s description from the read-only version or write your own.

3. When you are in the blank model space, select the title of the model in the upper left-hand corner next to the logo. Then, select Actions and Import from the dropdown menu.

4. Drag and drop the correct file-type (BSON or SOL) file into the upload area. Once the file has uploaded, the fully-populated and formatted model will open automatically.

Updating and Existing Model

If a version of the model already exists in your environment, the existing model can be updated using a simple Excel/CSV file import. This type of import only updates data elements, data lineage, and metadata within the model by matching either the name of the data element or the Solidatus generated unique ID. Excel/CSV files will not contain updates to the model’s description, rules, filters, and views. A separate importable file is available to add rules and filters to a model, which EDMC can provide upon request. The model’s description and views, however, require a manual update.

Note: It is only necessary to update an existing model if that model is in use as an imported/linked layer in another model or if a modification to the model has taken place in your environment. Otherwise, import the model as a new lineage model using the BSON or SOL file and either remove the out of date version or save it as a new name.

How to Update

1. Open the existing version of the model in your Solidatus environment.
2. Choose Import in the left-hand toolbar, then choose Tabular.
3. Either drag and drop the Excel/CSV file into the upload window or copy and paste the text from the file into the text box.
4. Follow the steps in the Solidatus importer to complete the process.

How to Collaborate on a Model

When editing a model, the Solidatus platform allows multiple users to edit a model simultaneously by the use of Forks. Another user creates a child model by forking the parent (i.e., master) model. To consolidate changes made in forked models back into the parent, each user creates a pull request, which provides a review-and-accept process for the model owner.

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[i] Solidatus: https://www.solidatus.com/edm-council-dcam/

[ii] DCAM Tools: https://edmcouncil.org/members/group_content_view.asp?group=195841&id=813175

[iii] EDMConnect: https://edmcouncil.org/Login.aspx