Connect Data
The Import Manager

File Upload



What happens after upload

Data Connectors
Live Data Sync
Next steps
Last updated
Connecting data is the first step in the seven-step workflow. Add data by uploading files directly or by connecting to an external source. RootCause supports connecting to databases, data warehouses, cloud storage or APIs.
From your workspace Home, click + Import Data Sources on the Data Sources card. The Import Manager opens with two tabs:
Current Imports — data sources already connected to this workspace
New Import — add a new source
Filter by category: All Sources, Databases, Cloud Storage, File Upload, and APIs & Services.

File upload is the quickest way to get started. RootCause accepts CSV, Excel, Parquet, JSON, PDF, and image files.
In the Import Manager, click Local File Upload
Drag files onto the drop zone, or click to browse

Files appear in a list with names and sizes — remove any with the × button
Click Upload (n) to start the transfer

An upload progress panel appears in the bottom-right of the screen. When all files show "Completed", ontology processing begins automatically in the background.

RootCause processes imported data in three steps:
Schema detection — column types are inferred (Number, Text, DateTime, Boolean, Category)
Ontology building — each column becomes a concept; columns with shared names or matching patterns across datasets are flagged for review
Data Views created — a default Data View is generated for each dataset; datasets that share an identifier column get a recommended joined view (covered in Step 3: Build 360 Data Table)
When processing finishes, your workspace Home updates to show your datasets, Data Views, and any recommended joins.

For live, continuously synced data, connect directly to your source system. Each connector requires credentials — click Setup next to the connector name to configure.
Databases
Data Warehouses
Snowflake (Beta)
Cloud Storage
APIs & Analytics
Coming soon: BigQuery, Azure Synapse, Databricks
After connecting a source, configure its sync frequency — manual, hourly, daily, or weekly. When a sync runs, all dependent Data Views and analyses update automatically.
By the time import finishes, RootCause has already built a first-pass ontology. Step 2: Build Ontology covers how to review the auto-detected concepts, merge columns that represent the same thing, and classify identifiers and time fields.
After that, Step 3: Build 360 Data Table shows how to turn those datasets into a single joined table ready for causal analysis — using the recommended join RootCause has already prepared.
Last updated

