Where to find it | Sidebar → Overview → Data Map |
Who can see it | Everyone except standard-access users |
Can you change data here? | No — it's a diagram |
How fresh is it? | Maintained by the Signal team as pages change |
What it's for
Signal pulls from a lot of places, and "where does this number come from?" is the question that comes up most. The Data Map answers it visually instead of in prose: source systems on one side, Signal's pages on the other, and lines showing what feeds what.
It's the fastest way to settle three arguments:
"Is this number ours or theirs?" — follow the line back to the system that owns it.
"If that system is down, what breaks?" — click the system and see every page that depends on it.
"Can Signal write back to that?" — write connections are drawn distinctly from read connections.
What you'll see
Source systems, grouped into families — finance and accounting, Nova, payroll, sales and call intelligence, spreadsheets, AI models, and Signal's own records.
Signal's pages, grouped the same way the sidebar is grouped.
Lines between them. Reads and writes are drawn differently, so you can see at a glance where Signal only looks and where it actually changes something.
A legend explaining the color families and line types.
Click any system or page to isolate it — the map dims everything unrelated and shows just what that node feeds, what feeds it, and what it can write.
How to use it
Trace a number you don't trust. Click the page you saw it on. Every system feeding that page lights up. Usually the answer is obvious once you see there are two revenue sources.
Assess an outage. A source system is having problems — click it and see exactly which pages will be affected, before anyone asks.
Answer "can I change this in Signal?" Look for a write line. If there isn't one, the change belongs in the source system.
Onboard someone. It's the single best five minutes for explaining what Signal actually is.
Good to know
The map only shows pages you can open. It's filtered to your access level, so your map is smaller than a leadership user's. That's deliberate — the map itself shouldn't reveal the existence of restricted screens.
It's maintained by hand. When a page gains or loses a data source, the Signal team updates the map. It's accurate as of the last update rather than generated live, so treat it as an excellent guide rather than a live contract.
Warehouses aren't sources. Data reaches Signal through data infrastructure, but the map deliberately shows the system that owns the number — the finance system, Nova, Salesforce — not the pipe it travelled through. That's the distinction that actually answers "who do I talk to?"
Common questions
Why is my map smaller than my colleague's? It shows only the pages you have access to. More access, more map.
Is it generated automatically from the code? No — it's curated. It's updated as part of shipping changes to Signal, so it reflects the last release rather than the live system.
Why don't I see our data warehouse on it? By design. The map answers "which system owns this number", and the warehouse is transport, not an owner. Showing it would add a box every line passes through without telling you anything useful.
Related
Where the numbers come from — the same information in words, with more nuance about freshness
Summary — the page with the most data sources behind it
Corrections — what to do once you've traced a wrong number