Teradata Visual Explain makes query plan analysis easier. Plan steps can be captured and represented graphically, and two or more plans can be compared. Also, the performance implications of data skew and bad or missing statistics can be identified. These features make it easier to understand why Teradata Optimizer chooses a particular plan for a given SQL query. All of the information required for query plan analysis such as database object definitions, data demographics, and cost and cardinality estimates is available through the interface.
Teradata Visual Explain also is used to capture query plans in an emulated database environment. This function is helpful for comparing query plans for different configurations or row counts to see the impact of system expansion or table growth for a particular query.