Use the atlas responsibly

What you'll do

Use a synthetic local atlas to explain lineage, qualification states and open boundaries. Prepare a value-free reviewer summary while keeping the actual atlas private. You need the receipt and staleness concepts from earlier lessons; this exercise requires no Hosted upload.

Read the atlas as a view of evidence

The local atlas provides a self-contained view of lineage, qualification and evidence. It helps a reader navigate the source-to-report chain and inspect what supports a claim. It is not a new oracle and does not independently perform every comparison represented on the page.

Begin with its scope and freshness. Identify the selected project, entry boundary, observation and supporting evidence. A connected diagram can look complete even when an upstream boundary is explicitly unproved. Follow the recorded requirements instead of assuming that every visible node has a current successful observation.

Translate states carefully

Qualified means declared required checks passed against current evidence for the named scope. Unknown means qualification has not been established. Stale means evidence no longer matches an observed dependency. A blocked or failed result needs its recorded reason. Not-applicable should be a justified scope decision, not a way to hide an inconvenient required check.

Do not infer business acceptance from a machine state. A technically qualified sales comparison can still use a business definition the reader has not accepted. Conversely, a visually approved report can remain numerically unqualified if required independent observations are missing.

Synthetic reviewer note
Scope: named Sales report checks only
State: stale after an observed semantic definition change
Evidence gap: current visual query and render observation
Human decision: report acceptance remains separate

This is a teaching summary, not an atlas schema or a real qualification. Its usefulness comes from naming a boundary and a next action rather than repeating a green or amber label without explanation.

Protect the atlas boundary

Client atlases may contain values and links to local business evidence. A self-contained file is convenient to open, but that does not make it safe for public distribution. Inspect the disclosure requirements before sending it to an external assistant, academy reviewer or team service.

Hosted qualification uploads use a separate closed, value-free attestation. Raw local receipts, SQL/DAX, images and oracle values are excluded. Do not attach the atlas to an attestation as a helpful extra. The schema's closed projection is part of the disclosure boundary, not a minimum that invites arbitrary additions.

Create a useful handoff

Walk one synthetic claim through the atlas and record the selected evidence chain. Check whether the view itself is current before citing it as today's status. If a dependency has changed, follow the receipt history and owning workflow rather than editing the atlas to look current.

Prepare two outputs: a private investigation worksheet with necessary evidence references, and a synthetic/value-free teaching summary. In the summary, retain the scope, state, observation limitation and next action. Remove raw values, internal identifiers, private paths and screenshots that expose client material.

Your expected output lets a reviewer answer "What was established, what changed, and what should happen next?" without receiving the underlying business data. The atlas can support that explanation; it cannot turn absent proof into a pass, provide continuous remote monitoring or confer a reporting certificate.

Check your understanding

1. What should you inspect before treating an atlas as current evidence?
2. Why can a self-contained atlas still be unsuitable for external sharing?
3. What belongs in a value-free reviewer summary when the local claim is stale?