How to Link Catalog Assets to Business Glossary Terms

This guide provides guidance on establishing links between catalog assets and Business Glossary terms. There are several options available:

1. Manual Linking:

   • Manually linking catalog assets to Business Glossary terms involves a step-by-step process, as described later in this section. This method provides a hands-on approach for precise and tailored connections.

2. Spreadsheet Upload:

   • An alternative option is to perform the linking through a spreadsheet upload. This streamlined approach allows users to upload a structured spreadsheet containing the necessary mapping information to establish connections.

3. Automation with Data Classification Module:

   • For a more automated process, leveraging the Data Classification module is recommended. This module streamlines the linking process by automating the identification and association of catalog assets with relevant Business Glossary terms. Further details on this automated approach are provided in the subsequent sections.

Choose the method that best suits your needs and workflow for seamlessly linking catalog assets to Business Glossary terms.

Manually Linking Catalog Assets to Glossary

To link a physical entity and a concept, simply click the “+ Add” (2) button within the physical entity’s detail page (as shown in the figure) and select the desired concept to associate it with. All concepts linked to the physical entity are visible under the “Related Concepts” section (3).

Multiple physical entities can be associated with a single concepts and vice versa. The same holds true for physical fields.

Enhancing Physical Field-to-Attribute Links with Semantic Paths

For physical fields, you can optionally specify a semantic path. This allows you to not only select a target attribute but also define the chain of relationships and concepts leading to it, adding more context to the link. Semantic linking goes beyond simple mappings by capturing the structure of data, enabling more precise interpretation and reasoning.

When adding a related attribute through the platform interface, you will first select a concept and one of its attributes as the target. For physical fields, you can: (1) create a direct relationship between the physical field and the target attribute, and (2) optionally specify a semantic path to define how the target is reached through related concepts.

The option to add a semantic path is available only if the physical entity to which the physical field belongs has one or more related concepts. In this case, the platform will suggest possible paths from the starting concept(s) to the target concept, and you can select one of these as the semantic path. For each target attribute, only one semantic path can be specified to define the relationship.

Please note that specifying a semantic path is optional.

Automating with Data Classification

Through the Data Classification module, it is possible to automatically identify links between the Data Catalog and Business Glossary through the definition of rules. Through a set of user-defined rules, the module samples data and tries to attribute semantic meaning to individual elements. Different types of rules can be combined not only to identify the type of content of an element (e.g. email, address) but also to attribute a specific element of the Business Glossary (e.g. customer, employee).

The rules assign numerical values that show the probability that the considered field conforms to the rule. For the definition, maintenance and usage methods of use of the classification module, please refer to the Data Classification Guide .