---
sourceDocument: Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/governance-risk-compliance

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    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia Governance, Risk, and Compliance

ft:clusterId :

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---

# Manage data lineage

# Manage data lineage {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated August 19, 2026  
![](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/portal-asset/ico-clock) 1 minute to read  
Data lineage is the visual representation of the relationships you define in a hierarchy. You can add new relationships directly from the lineage map in a processing map.

Every hierarchy relationship you create for a processing activity is rendered as a lineage map. An analyst can add relationships directly on the processing activity, and a business user can define relationships through a privacy
impact assessment (PIA). The map lets you trace how data flows between vendors, applications, systems, and other processing activities from a source record. This helps you identify where privacy-related risks exist. For more on
data lineages, see [View lineage map](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/D~BcnDGAkQRtszzrNc4fEQ#hierarchy-tab__section_lineage_map).

For a lineage map to be created, you must first create a hierarchy relationship. For steps, see [Add relationships to a hierarchy for a processing activity](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/cU8KAoNZ4OlmszYOF6Ao1Q "Define new relationships in a hierarchy directly on a processing activity to record how it connects to vendors, applications, systems, and other processing activities across regions. This enables you to track cross-border data transfers and generate a lineage map to visualize data consumption, sharing, and the associated risks for a processing activity.").

Use the following tasks to manage the lineage map for a processing activity:

* [Edit a lineage](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Z7qKBAujLfAx70fWtaouAw "Edit an existing lineage relationship to update the relationship type, description, or key relationship status of a connected node.")
* [Delete a lineage](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/RlkJNxLCf1mFkWzhY0qZ9Q "Delete a lineage to remove a specific connection or node from the hierarchy of a processing activity.")
* [Update the maximum node level for the lineage map](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Lx2FWUWsk61DSGjmU5FcUA "Update the sn_privacy.nodemap.maxLevel system property to control how many node levels are visible on the lineage map.")
{#lineage__ul_uph_hqj_hkc}
* **[Edit a lineage](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Z7qKBAujLfAx70fWtaouAw)**   
  Edit an existing lineage relationship to update the relationship type, description, or key relationship status of a connected node.
* **[Delete a lineage](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/RlkJNxLCf1mFkWzhY0qZ9Q)**   
  Delete a lineage to remove a specific connection or node from the hierarchy of a processing activity.
* **[Update the maximum node level for the lineage map](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/Lx2FWUWsk61DSGjmU5FcUA)**   
  Update the `sn_privacy.nodemap.maxLevel system` property to control how many node levels are visible on the lineage map.