## Column Level Lineage

URL: https://docs.atlan.com/product/capabilities/lineage/concepts/what-is-column-level-lineage

> Data lineage shows the upstream and downstream dependencies of an asset. For a more granular view of these dependencies, you can view column-level lineage.

Atlan captures column-level lineage automatically, tracing every upstream and downstream dependency of a column across warehouses, pipelines, and BI tools.

Data lineage shows the upstream and downstream dependencies of an asset. For a more granular view of these dependencies, you can view column-level lineage.

For example, instead of stating that the upstream table `STG CUSTOMERS` is dependent on the downstream table `RAW CUSTOMERS`, you can point to the specific column that has an impact on the downstream asset.

Knowing the impact on the downstream asset is essential for impact analysis. However, in order to make more granular decisions, users must understand _how_ the impact occurs. Column-level lineage reveals exactly what is impacted and how.

To learn more about data lineage, read [this guide](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/lineage/what-is-lineage/llms.txt).

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