While data flow diagrams depict how information flows through a company, data lineage provides additional intelligence on data such as integrations, quality, and processing. This creates a complete lifecycle image of data, where it began and how it transformed into its final form. Data lineage can help organizations with compliance readiness by providing insight into the processes where personal data is used and transformed.
Data lineage is different from data inventory in that lineage focuses on the descriptive information called metadata. Lineage is more concerned with the data lifecycle in how the data is used and transforms through the organization. Data inventory focuses on the state of data at various locations and the statistical aspects of the data (such as risk and classification).