Orchestrate downstream exposures enterprisebeta

Use dbt Cloud job scheduler to proactively refresh downstream exposures and the underlying data sources (extracts) that power your Tableau Workbooks.

Available in private beta

Orchestrating exposures is currently available in private beta to dbt Cloud Enterprise accounts. To join the beta, contact your account representative.

Orchestrating exposures integrates with downstream exposures and uses your dbt build job to ensure that Tableau extracts are updated regularly.

Control the frequency of these refreshes by configuring environment variables in your dbt environment.

 Differences between visualizing and orchestrating downstream exposures

The following table summarizes the differences between visualizing and orchestrating downstream exposures:

Info	Set up and visualize downstream exposures	Orchestrate downstream exposures beta
Purpose	Automatically brings downstream assets into your dbt lineage.	Proactively refreshes the underlying data sources during scheduled dbt jobs.
Benefits	Provides visibility into data flow and dependencies.	Ensures BI tools always have up-to-date data without manual intervention.
Location	Exposed in dbt Explorer	Exposed in dbt Cloud scheduler
Supported BI tool	Tableau	Tableau
Use case	Helps users understand how models are used and reduces incidents.	Optimizes timeliness and reduces costs by running models when needed.

Prerequisites

To orchestrate downstream exposures, you should meet the following:

• Configured downstream exposures and ensured desired exposures are included in your lineage
• Verified your environment and jobs are on a supported dbt release track.
• Have a dbt Cloud account on the Enterprise plan.
• Created a production deployment environment for each project you want to explore, with at least one successful job run.
• Have admin permissions in dbt Cloud to edit project settings or production environment settings.

Orchestrate downstream exposures

To orchestrate downstream exposures and see the refresh happen automatically during scheduled dbt jobs:

1. In the dbt Cloud, click Deploy, then Environments, and select the Environment variables tab.
2. Click Add variable and set the environment level variable DBT_ACTIVE_EXPOSURES to 1 within the environment you want the refresh to happen.
3. Then set the DBT_ACTIVE_EXPOSURES_BUILD_AFTER to control the maximum refresh frequency (in minutes) you want between each exposure refresh.
4. Set the variable to 1440 minutes (24 hours) by default. This means that downstream exposures won’t refresh Tableau extracts more often than this set interval, even if the related models run more frequently.
   Set the environment variable `DBT_ACTIVE_EXPOSURES` to `1`.
5. Run a job in production. You will see the update each time a job runs in production.
   • If a job runs before the set interval has passed, dbt Cloud skips the downstream exposure refresh and marks it as skipped in the job logs.
6. View the downstream exposure logs in the dbt run job logs.
   View the downstream exposure logs in the dbt run job logs.
   • View more details in the debug logs for any troubleshooting.