Which action best describes data lineage documentation?

• A. Maintaining only the final dataset without provenance.
• B. Documenting data origin, transformations, and storage locations.
• C. Randomly reformatting data without tracking changes.
• D. Deleting intermediate datasets after processing.

Answer: (B)

Data lineage documentation is about tracing a data item from its source through every processing step to where it’s stored or used. It records where the data originated, what transformations it underwent, and where the results live. This visibility is essential in surveillance and disease reporting because it lets you understand how a result was produced, reproduce analyses, and audit data quality and compliance.

The best option explicitly calls for documenting data origin, transformations, and storage locations, providing a complete trail that supports trust and accountability. The other choices miss the essential provenance: keeping only the final dataset hides the path that led to it; reformatting without tracking changes destroys traceability; deleting intermediate datasets erases evidence of the processing history.