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title: Explore Overview
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June 5, 2026

# Explore Overview

**Explore** is the deterministic research area of a Data Lineage project. Everything here is produced by parsing your ingested legacy source (COBOL, RPG, PL/I, and related), SQL, **job languages** (JCL, CL, CLLE, and related), and schema metadata—stable across visits until the project is reloaded with new sources.

AI features (**Ask a Lineage Question**, **Summary**, **Tell Me More**) are **not** in Explore; they live on the **dashboard** or on item detail views. Use Explore to verify facts and follow links from AI answers.

### The six tabs

| Tab | What it lists |
| --- | --- |
| **Modules** | Program modules (COBOL, RPG, PL/I, and other ingested languages) |
| **Tables** | SQL tables |
| **Fields** | SQL columns |
| **Variables** | Program data items (including group structures and hardcoded values in the tree) |
| **Jobs** | Batch jobs from job languages (JCL, CL, CLLE, and related) |
| **Files** | Logical files and data sets |

Each tab follows the same pattern:

1. **Grid** — Searchable, filterable list of all items of that type, plus useful statistics (counts, reads/writes, complexity indicators).
2. **Detail** — Click a row to see how that item connects to others: actions (read, write, insert, update), related modules, variables, SQL, steps, and data sets.
3. **Cross-links** — Links jump to the same item (or a related one) on another tab so you can trace lineage without re-searching.

Open Explore from the project menu after you enter a project. Dashboard statistic cards are shortcuts into the matching tab.

### Search and filter

Every tab supports finding items by name. Some tabs add richer filters—for example, **Modules** search applies only to **module name** and **user-entered descriptions** (use **Ask a Lineage Question** for broader discovery), and **Fields** can filter by table or module or search the same column name across tables. See each tab’s topic for specifics.

### How Explore fits with the dashboard

| Need | Where to go |
| --- | --- |
| Broad question (“where are overdraft fees calculated?”) | Dashboard → **Ask a Lineage Question** |
| Known item (table name, program name, job name) | Explore → correct tab → search |
| Confirm a path (table read → variable → write) | Explore → start at module or field detail |
| Plain-English overview of one module, variable, or job | Open item in Explore → **Summary** → **Tell Me More** |

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