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Crawl Informatica PowerCenter assets

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TL;DR

Create a workflow to extract table-level and column-level lineage from Informatica PowerCenter repository exports.

Create a workflow in Atlan to extract lineage from Informatica PowerCenter repository exports. Each workflow processes the repository exports you upload or import from cloud storage and publishes the resulting lineage against a single Atlan connection. Review the order of operations for metadata enrichment workflows before starting.

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, make sure you have:

  • Completed Informatica PowerCenter setup
  • A .zip archive of your repository XML exports, ready to upload or staged in a cloud object store if you plan to import from object storage
  • A .zip archive of parameter files if your mappings use parameters (recommended in almost all cases for accurate lineage)
  • (Recommended) the source and target systems already crawled in Atlan, so lineage resolves to real assets. If they aren't cataloged yet, Atlan still publishes lineage using partial assets that resolve automatically once you crawl those systems

Create crawler workflow​

  1. In your Atlan workspace, click Connectors in the left sidebar.
    • If you are using the Old UI (Classic), click New Workflow in the top navigation.
  2. Click Marketplace.
  3. Search for Informatica PowerCenter and select it.
  4. Click Install.
  5. Once installation completes, click Setup Workflow on the same tile.

Upload repository files​

  1. In the Repository XML export field, upload the .zip archive containing your PowerCenter repository XML exports. This field is required.
  2. In the Parameter files field, upload the .zip archive of parameter files. This field is technically optional, but parameter files are needed for accurate lineage whenever your mappings use parameters, which is the case for most PowerCenter projects.

Import from object storage​

Instead of uploading files, you can have the workflow fetch your repository exports directly from a cloud object store such as Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage (GCS), or Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS). This is useful for larger exports, automated pipelines, or recurring runs where the files are produced outside Atlan.

  1. Set Import type to Cloud storage.
  2. In Cloud source, select the object-store credential that holds your repository export. Leave it empty to read from your tenant's own object store. For the per-provider fields for S3, GCS, and ADLS, see Object storage configuration for apps.
  3. In Repository XML prefix, enter the object-store directory that holds the repository XML export. Alternatively, or in addition, set Repository XML key to the exact object key of the export .zip. At least one of the two is required.
  4. (Optional) In Parameter files prefix, enter the object-store prefix that holds your parameter files.

Under a prefix the workflow accepts either a .zip archive or loose .xml files. Keep filenames unique within a prefix: two files that resolve to the same name are rejected rather than silently overwritten.

Configure connection​

  1. Select an existing Connection or create a new one. This connection becomes the root for all lineage assets Atlan publishes from this workflow.
  2. To change who manages this connection, update the users or groups listed under Connection admins.

Configure repository​

  1. In the Repository name field, enter the name of your PowerCenter repository exactly as it appears in the <REPOSITORY NAME> declaration of your XML exports. This field is required, and the workflow extracts lineage for this repository only.

Configure advanced options​

  1. Use the Operator overrides (JSON) field to supply connection-level overrides, most commonly to map an ODBC or non-relational connection to its actual database vendor when the repository export doesn't declare one. For example: {"connections": {"ODBC_PROD": {"databaseVendor": "oracle"}}}. These overrides are usually configured together with your Atlan representative. For a standard crawl, leave the field as {}.
info

This connector doesn't run a test authentication or preflight connectivity check. There is no live PowerCenter system to connect to: extraction works entirely from the files you provide.

Run crawler​

Choose to run the crawler once immediately or schedule it to run at a recurring interval.

  1. Click Run to run once, or Schedule & Run to run hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly.
  2. Monitor progress in the workflow execution details.
note

A scheduled run reprocesses the input the workflow is configured with. Direct uploads are static: every run reads the same archive, so re-export and re-upload your files to refresh lineage. Cloud storage imports are read again on every run: replace the export at the configured prefix or key and the next run picks it up, making scheduling useful when your export pipeline refreshes the staged files. See How do I keep lineage metadata up to date?.

After the crawler completes, navigate to any resolved source or target asset and open the Lineage tab to view the data flow extracted from PowerCenter.

See also​

What does Atlan crawl from Informatica PowerCenter: Review the lineage assets and supported source types

Need help​

If you encounter issues while crawling Informatica PowerCenter assets, see Crawl and lineage issues. For additional assistance, contact Atlan support by submitting a request.