Importing data models (IBM Knowledge Catalog)

Prerequisites

Before you can import a data model, you must create a data model file and upload it to your project. See Preparing data model files.

Creating the metadata import asset and importing data models

To create a metadata import asset and a job for importing data models to a catalog:

1. Open a project, go to the project's Asset page and click New asset > Metadata Import.

2. Select the option Import data model and click Next. If you don't see this option, the Advanced metadata import feature is not enabled. See Installed features and license requirements.

3. Specify a name for the metadata import. Optionally, you can provide a description.

4. Optional: Select tags to be assigned to the metadata import asset to simplify searching. You can create new tags by entering the tag name and pressing Enter.

5. For this type of import, the import target can be only a catalog. See Scope of import.

   Select a catalog from the list. If your project is marked as sensitive, you can't create and run data model imports.

6. Define a scope for the metadata import. See Scope of import.

   1. Click Select file to pick a data model file from your project for the import. You can select only one file at a time. A data model file is a representation of the data model defined in a data modeling tool in compressed .zip format and uploaded to your project from your local file system. See Preparing data model files.

   A data model file is static. To update its content for a later rerun of the metadata import, you must upload a new version of the data model file overwriting the existing file.

   1. After you select a data model file, select the data modeling tool to make the proper file structure known.

7. Define whether you want to run scheduled import jobs. If you don't set a schedule, you run the import when you save the metadata import asset. You can rerun the import manually at any time. See Scheduling options.

8. Optional. Customize the import behavior. You can choose to prevent specific properties from being updated. See Advanced import options.

9. Review the metadata import configuration. To make changes, click the edit () icon on the tile and update the settings.

10. Click Create. The metadata import asset is added to the project, and a metadata import job is created. If you didn't configure a schedule, the import is run immediately. If you configured a schedule, the import runs on the defined schedule.

    Important: If the same data model was already imported through a different metadata import, it is not imported anew but is updated. The data model assets do no longer show up in the initial metadata import. Only the most recently run metadata import contains the assets.

Depending on the outcome of the metadata import job run, a completion message or an error notification is displayed.

A completion message is displayed when the job run completed successfully, completed with warnings, or completed with errors. An error notification is displayed if the entire job run failed. Either type of notification contains a link to the job run log that provides details about the specific job run.

When the import is complete, you can see the list of assets with the following information:

• The asset name, which provides a link to the asset in the catalog.
• The asset type, such as Logical data model or Physical data model.
• The asset context, such as the entity hierarchy within the model.
• The date and time that the asset was last imported.
• The import status, which can be Imported for successfully imported data, In progress, or Removed if the asset couldn't be reimported.

In the catalog, the imported assets have a tag automatically assigned that reflects the originating data modeling tool.

Learn more

• Data fabric tutorial: Curate high quality data
• Metadata import jobs
• IBM Knowledge Catalog API: Create a metadata import asset

Next steps

• Managing existing metadata imports

Parent topic: Importing metadata