diff --git a/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_pattern.ts b/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_pattern.ts
index b269eb749764..e6ce9d812baa 100644
--- a/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_pattern.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_pattern.ts
@@ -43,7 +43,13 @@ import { IndexPatternField, IIndexPatternFieldList, fieldList } from '../fields'
 import { formatHitProvider } from './format_hit';
 import { flattenHitWrapper } from './flatten_hit';
 import { FieldFormatsStartCommon, FieldFormat } from '../../field_formats';
-import { IndexPatternSpec, TypeMeta, SourceFilter, IndexPatternFieldMap } from '../types';
+import {
+  IndexPatternSpec,
+  TypeMeta,
+  SourceFilter,
+  IndexPatternFieldMap,
+  DataSourceRef,
+} from '../types';
 import { SerializedFieldFormat } from '../../../../expressions/common';
 
 interface IndexPatternDeps {
@@ -86,7 +92,8 @@ export class IndexPattern implements IIndexPattern {
   // savedObject version
   public version: string | undefined;
   public sourceFilters?: SourceFilter[];
-  public dataSourcesJSON: string | undefined;
+  public dataSourcesJSON?: string; // todo: cleanup, only keep one
+  public dataSourceRef?: DataSourceRef;
 
   private originalSavedObjectBody: SavedObjectBody = {};
   private shortDotsEnable: boolean = false;
@@ -132,8 +139,18 @@ export class IndexPattern implements IIndexPattern {
     });
 
     this.dataSourcesJSON = spec.dataSourcesJSON;
+    this.dataSourceRef = this.getDataSourceRef(spec.dataSourcesJSON);
   }
 
+  getDataSourceRef = (dataSourcesJSON?: string) => {
+    if (dataSourcesJSON) {
+      const refs = JSON.parse(dataSourcesJSON);
+      if (!_.isEmpty(refs)) {
+        return refs[0]; // only support 1-1 mapping now
+      }
+    }
+  };
+
   /**
    * Get last saved saved object fields
    */
diff --git a/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_patterns.ts b/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_patterns.ts
index 6213dc13dd26..43a132c71a08 100644
--- a/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_patterns.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/index_patterns/index_patterns.ts
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ export class IndexPatternsService {
       fields: ['title'],
       perPage: 10000,
     });
-  }
+  } // todo: does this find method imcompatible with using loader?
 
   /**
    * Get list of index pattern ids
@@ -384,6 +384,46 @@ export class IndexPatternsService {
     };
   };
 
+  /**
+   * Converts index pattern saved object to index pattern spec
+   * @param savedObject
+   */
+
+  indexPatternSavedObjectToSpec = (savedObject: IndexPatternSavedObject): IndexPatternSpec => {
+    const {
+      id,
+      version,
+      title,
+      timeFieldName,
+      intervalName,
+      fields,
+      sourceFilters,
+      fieldFormatMap,
+      typeMeta,
+      type,
+      dataSourcesJSON,
+    } = savedObject;
+
+    const parsedSourceFilters = sourceFilters ? JSON.parse(sourceFilters) : undefined;
+    const parsedTypeMeta = typeMeta ? JSON.parse(typeMeta) : undefined;
+    const parsedFieldFormatMap = fieldFormatMap ? JSON.parse(fieldFormatMap) : {};
+    const parsedFields: FieldSpec[] = fields ? JSON.parse(fields) : [];
+
+    this.addFormatsToFields(parsedFields, parsedFieldFormatMap);
+    return {
+      id,
+      version,
+      title,
+      intervalName,
+      timeFieldName,
+      sourceFilters: parsedSourceFilters,
+      fields: this.fieldArrayToMap(parsedFields),
+      typeMeta: parsedTypeMeta,
+      type,
+      dataSourcesJSON,
+    };
+  };
+
   /**
    * Get an index pattern by id. Cache optimized
    * @param id
@@ -395,12 +435,15 @@ export class IndexPatternsService {
       return cache;
     }
 
-    const savedObject = await this.savedObjectsClient.get<IndexPatternAttributes>(
-      savedObjectType,
-      id
-    );
+    // const savedObject = await this.savedObjectsClient.get<IndexPatternAttributes>(
+    //   savedObjectType,
+    //   id
+    // );
+
+    const savedIndexPattern: IndexPatternSavedObject = await this.savedIndexPattern.get(id);
+    const { version, fieldFormatMap } = savedIndexPattern;
 
-    if (!savedObject.version) {
+    if (!version) {
       throw new SavedObjectNotFound(
         savedObjectType,
         id,
@@ -408,11 +451,10 @@ export class IndexPatternsService {
       );
     }
 
-    const spec = this.savedObjectToSpec(savedObject);
+    // const spec = this.savedObjectToSpec(savedObject);
+    const spec = this.indexPatternSavedObjectToSpec(savedIndexPattern);
     const { title, type, typeMeta } = spec;
-    const parsedFieldFormats: FieldFormatMap = savedObject.attributes.fieldFormatMap
-      ? JSON.parse(savedObject.attributes.fieldFormatMap)
-      : {};
+    const parsedFieldFormats: FieldFormatMap = fieldFormatMap ? JSON.parse(fieldFormatMap) : {};
 
     const isFieldRefreshRequired = this.isFieldRefreshRequired(spec.fields);
     let isSaveRequired = isFieldRefreshRequired;
diff --git a/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/types.ts b/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/types.ts
index 29ac84f009e1..46fd736f60d7 100644
--- a/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/types.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/data/common/index_patterns/types.ts
@@ -49,6 +49,7 @@ export interface IIndexPattern {
   getFormatterForField?: (
     field: IndexPatternField | IndexPatternField['spec'] | IFieldType
   ) => FieldFormat;
+  dataSourceRef?: DataSourceRef;
 }
 
 export interface IndexPatternAttributes {
@@ -194,9 +195,14 @@ export interface IndexPatternSpec {
   fields?: IndexPatternFieldMap;
   typeMeta?: TypeMeta;
   type?: string;
-  dataSourcesJSON?: string;
+  dataSourcesJSON?: string; // todo: refactor to dataSourceRefs : DataSourceRef[]
 }
 
 export interface SourceFilter {
   value: string;
 }
+
+export interface DataSourceRef {
+  id: string;
+  type: string;
+}
diff --git a/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/saved_index_patterns/_saved_index_pattern.ts b/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/saved_index_patterns/_saved_index_pattern.ts
index e5d711a2ec8b..cf20832d1e8a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/saved_index_patterns/_saved_index_pattern.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/saved_index_patterns/_saved_index_pattern.ts
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ export function createSavedIndexPatternClass(services: SavedObjectOpenSearchDash
       sourceFilters: 'text',
       fields: 'text',
       fieldFormatMap: 'text',
-      type: 'text',
+      type: 'keyword',
       typeMeta: 'text',
       dataSourcesJSON: 'text',
       // todo
diff --git a/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/types.ts b/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/types.ts
index 5eddbba0e4f8..0f4ebb66a0dd 100644
--- a/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/types.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/data/public/index_patterns/types.ts
@@ -12,9 +12,9 @@ export interface IndexPatternObject {
   title: string;
   intervalName?: string;
   timeFieldName?: string;
-  sourceFilters?: SourceFilter[];
-  fields?: IndexPatternFieldMap;
-  typeMeta?: TypeMeta;
+  sourceFilters?: string;
+  fields?: string;
+  typeMeta?: string;
   type?: string;
   fieldFormatMap?: string;
   dataSourcesJSON?: string;