Asset relationships in catalogs
You can add relationships between assets, between assets and governance artifacts to help other users better understand the assets. You can create relationships between assets in the same catalog or in different catalogs, projects, or deployment spaces. You can add relationships between assets and any governance artifacts that are in the categories that you have permission to view.
Required permissions
To add or remove a relationship between an asset in a catalog and other asset or a governance artifact, you must have the required permissions on both the source asset and the target asset or artifact.
| Relationship pair | Permissions on source asset | Permissions on target item |
|---|---|---|
| Asset to an asset in a catalog | - Admin role in the catalog - Editor role in the catalog + asset owner or member |
- Admin role in the catalog - Editor role in the catalog + asset owner or member |
| Asset to an asset in a project or space | - Admin role in the catalog - Editor role in the catalog + asset owner or member |
- Admin role in the project or space - Editor role in the project or space |
| Asset to a governance artifact or category | - Admin role in the catalog - Editor role in the catalog + asset owner or member |
Any role in the primary category for the artifact |
Predefined relationships between assets
Predefined relationships between assets includes relationship labels on the source and target assets. These relationships appear in the Related items section of the asset's Overview page. The following table lists the predefined relationships that you can add between two assets.
| Label on source asset | Label on target asset | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Is same as | Is same as | The source is the same as the target. For example, a CSV file that was uploaded twice to create two data assets that are identical. |
| Is related to | Is related to | The source is related to the target. For example, two data assets that have a primary key relationship. |
| Is parent of | Is child of | The source is a parent of the target. |
| Is context parent of | Is context child of | The source provides higher-level context for the target. The source asset can have zero or more context children, but the target asset can have at most one context parent. For example, a schema asset can provide the context for a table asset that belongs to that schema. |
| Contains | Is contained in | The source contains the target. For example, a connected folder asset can contain data assets. |
| Has part | Is part of | The source has one or more targets that are a part of it. For example, a domain asset can have multiple data assets within it. |
| Implements | Is implemented by | The source implements the target. For example, a data asset can implement a logical model asset. |
| Uses | Is used by | The source uses the target. For example, a model asset can use a data asset. |
| Governs | Is governed by | The source is governed by the target. For example, an asset is governed by the rule "age must be over 18". |
| Maps to | Is mapped from | A source maps to a target. For example, asset column A maps to asset column B. |
| Contains mapping | Is contained in mapping group | The mapping (target) is contained in the mapping group (source). For example, the mapping group "Procedures" contains mapping with the name "Transform SP1 into File". |
| Is constrained by | Constrains | A physical constraint (target) constrains a data asset (source). For example, a primary key can constrain what values can be in the table of a data asset. |
| References | Is referenced by | A foreign key for a data table (source) references a set of columns in another data table (target). |
Relationships between assets and governance artifacts
You can create two different types of relationships between assets and governance artifacts that vary in method, scope, and effect.
- Relationships with labels
- Relationships with labels that describe how the asset is related to the artifact. These relationships appear in the Related items section of the asset's Overview page and do not appear on the artifact.
- Assignments
- Relationships to artifacts that are assigned to data columns or to the asset. These relationships appear in the Columns section or the Governance artifacts section of the asset's Overview page and on the artifact's Related content page.
The following table compares the scope, methods, and effects of named relationships and assignments.
| Characteristic | Relationships with labels | Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| Types of governance artifacts | Data classes Business terms Categories Classifications Data protection rules Governance rules Policies Reference data sets |
Data classes Business terms Classifications |
| Methods to add the relationship | You edit the asset. | Any of these methods: - You can edit the asset to add any assignment. - Data classes are automatically assigned during profiling. - Business terms are automatically or manually assigned during metadata enrichment. - You can assign classifications during asset creation. |
| Triggers data protection rules? | No | Yes, you can define data protection rules that include assigned data classes, business terms, or classifications in the rule conditions. |
| Appears in asset's lineage? | No, predefined relationships do not appear. Yes, custom relationships with lineage visibility enabled appear. |
Yes, business terms that are assigned to columns or to the asset appear. |
| Affects global search? | No | Yes, assets are returned as search results when they have assigned data classes, business terms, or classifications that match the search string. |
Custom relationship types
You can create custom types of relationships for assets and then assign your custom relationships to assets or governance artifacts in the catalog. Custom relationships appear in the list of relationships that you see when you add a relationship in the Related items section of the asset's Overview page. See Custom properties and relationships for governance artifacts and catalog assets.
Learn more
Parent topic: Catalog assets