Asset relationships
Asset relationships help other users understand how one asset relates to other assets, governance artifacts, or columns in a workspace.
Assets can have relationships with:
Relationships between assets
Assets might have relationships with assets of the same type or different asset types in the same catalog or in different catalogs, projects, or deployment spaces.
You can add the predefined relationships that are supported for columns and assets.
Default relationship behaviors and exceptions
Relationship types support the following cascade behaviors that are triggered by user actions:
- Cascade publish
- An asset is published from a project to catalog. If cascade publish is set to YES and you cascade publish an asset that is a source of a relationship, the related target assets are also published.
- For more information about publishing assets, see Publishing assets from a project into a catalog.
- Cascade clone
- An asset is cloned from a catalog to project. If cascade is set to YES and you cascade clone an asset that is a source of a relationshop, the related target assets are also cloned.
- Cascade promote
- An asset is promoted from a project to deployment space. If cascade promote is set to YES and you cascade promote an asset that is a source of a relantioship, the related target assets are also promoted to a deployment space.
- For more information about promoting assets, see Promoting assets to a deployment space. lin
- Cascade delete
- An asset is deleted from a catalog. If cascade delete is set to YES and you cascade delete an asset that is a source of a relationship, the related target assets are also deleted.
- For more information about deleting assets, see Removing an asset from a catalog.
By default, the following global relationship types don't support cascade publish, cascade clone, cascade promote, and cascade delete behaviors:
- Contains - Is contained in
- Is context parent of - Is context child of
The source and target asset types with the Contains - Is contained in and Is context parent of - Is context child of relationship types that are specified in the table are the exceptions.
| Area | Source asset type | Source to target - target to source relationship type | Target asset type | Cascade delete | Cascade publish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BI Reports | BI Report | Is context parent of - Is context child of | BI Report Query | Yes | Yes |
| BI Reports | BI Report Query | Is context parent of - Is context child of | Bi Report Query Item | Yes | Yes |
| Data Models | Logical model group | Contains - Is contained in | Logical model | Yes | Yes |
| Data Models | Logical model | Contains - Is contained in | - Logical model entity - Logical model relationship |
Yes | Yes |
| Data Models | Logical model entity | Contains - Is contained in | - Logical model attribute - Logical model relationship |
Yes | Yes |
| Data Models | Physical model schema | Contains - Is contained in | - Physical model - Physical model view - Physical model stored procedure - Physical model table |
Yes | Yes |
| Data Models | Physical model table | Contains - Is contained in | - Physical model column - Physical model constraint |
Yes | Yes |
| Data Integration | Data integration job | Contains - Is contained in | Data integration component | Yes | No |
| Data Integration | Data integration component | Contains - Is contained in | Data integration column | Yes | No |
For example, when you delete a BI Report Query source asset that is a context parent of a BI Report Query Item target asset that is a context child of the BI Report Query source asset, the target BI Report Query Item is also deleted.
To learn how to manage asset relationships, see Managing relationships in a catalog.
Relationships between assets and governance artifacts
Assets can have relationships with governance artifacts in the same catalog or in different catalogs, projects, or deployment spaces.
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 location rules 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. You can assign one or more classifications at a column level. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
Relationships between assets and columns
Columns of a data asset can have relationships with assets and governance artifacts in the same catalog or in different catalogs, projects, or deployment spaces.
You can add the predefined relationships that are supported for columns and assets. To create custom relationship types for data columns, see Custom properties and relationships for governance artifacts and catalog assets.
To learn how to manage column relationships, see Managing relationships in a catalog.
Relationships between assets and custom assets
To create custom relationship types for assets, see Custom properties and relationships for governance artifacts and catalog assets.
Learn more
- Managing relationships in a catalog
- Editing asset properties
- Custom properties and relationships for governance artifacts and catalog assets
- Watson Data API
Parent topic: Relationships in a catalog