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Asset relationships

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.

Table 1. Cascade delete and cascade publish behaviors for select Contains - Is contained in and Is context parent of - Is context child of global relationships.
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.

Screen capture that shows the asset overview 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

Parent topic: Relationships in a catalog

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