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Usage Analytics Overview

Usage Analytics reveals how your data is actually used — which tables are queried most, which dashboards consume which datasets, and which products sit unused. By scraping BI tools and mining warehouse query logs, Qarion closes the gap between "what data exists" and "what data matters."

Why Usage Analytics?​

Without usage data, governance decisions are made in the dark:

  • Stewards can't prioritize which tables to document (most-queried vs. unused)
  • Analysts can't see popular queries for inspiration on unfamiliar tables
  • Lineage stops at the warehouse — dashboard-to-table connections are missing
  • Stale products can't be identified by actual access patterns

Usage Analytics solves these problems by bringing query-level insights directly into the catalog.

How It Works​

Usage data flows into Qarion through two complementary channels:

BI Tool Scraping​

BI connectors scrape saved queries, chart definitions, and dashboard structures from your BI platforms. This produces:

  • Dashboard-to-table lineage — Dashboard and report nodes appear in the lineage graph
  • Saved query references — Which tables and columns are used in saved analyses
  • Chart SQL extraction — SQL from chart definitions is parsed for table references

Query Log Mining​

For data warehouses, Qarion mines query history directly from audit logs:

  • Snowflake — QUERY_HISTORY views
  • BigQuery — JOBS information schema
  • PostgreSQL — pg_stat_statements

This produces aggregate metrics: query count, unique users, last queried date, and popular columns.

Key Features​

Popularity Scores​

Every product receives a popularity score (0–100) based on query volume, unique users, and recency. Popular products are boosted in search results, helping analysts find the most-used datasets first.

Usage Tab​

The Usage tab on each product's detail page shows:

  • Query frequency over time
  • Top querying users
  • Popular columns (most referenced in WHERE/GROUP BY clauses)
  • Common query patterns (anonymized)

Unused Products View​

Products with zero queries in the last N days are surfaced as candidates for deprecation, helping you keep the catalog clean and trustworthy.

Dashboard Lineage​

Scraped dashboards appear as nodes in the lineage graph, with edges connecting tables to the dashboards that consume them. Each dashboard node displays the BI tool icon and a link back to the original dashboard.

Getting Started​