Which description best supports data lineage’s role in trust and auditability?

• A. The end-to-end trace of data from origin through transformations to outputs; supports trust and auditability.
• B. A process to delete data after processing.
• C. A method to speed up data ingestion.
• D. A technique for compressing data.

Answer: (A)

Data lineage is the end-to-end trace of data from its origin through all transformations to its final outputs. This visibility creates trust because you can see exactly where data came from, what happened to it along the way, and whether any quality or compliance issues were introduced during processing. For auditability, lineage provides a verifiable trail that shows how data was collected, transformed, and delivered, giving auditors and stakeholders the evidence needed to confirm data integrity, responsibility, and regulatory compliance.

The other options don’t support trust and auditability as effectively. Deleting data after processing removes the historical record, making it impossible to verify provenance. Methods that speed up ingestion or compress data improve performance or storage but don’t provide the provenance needed to trace data’s journey or support audits.