Business Glossary
Pentaho Data Catalog provides a single location for creating, organizing, curating, and identifying business glossary items like domains, categories, and terms to help you navigate your vast data environment so you can get the right data efficiently. You also can use the business glossary as a tool with role-based access control to secure and separate valuable data and metadata and prevent such data from reaching unintended audiences.
In Data Catalog, business terms are organized into a category and then into a domain representing a hierarchy. Using the business glossaries, you can manage or browse the business glossaries for your data environment.
Your role and assigned permissions determine your interaction with the business glossaries. For example, users who are assigned the Business Glossary Administrator role can create new glossaries. Users assigned the Analyst role can add terms within categories and create associations for existing terms within the glossaries to which they are assigned access.
Tour the Business Glossary page
In Pentaho Data Catalog, the Business Glossary page provides a user-friendly interface for managing and viewing glossary items. Click Glossary in the left navigation menu, to open the Business Glossary page. On the left panel, you'll find a list of glossary items organized by domain, category, and term hierarchy. Click on a domain, category, or term to access summary information, details, and associated rules for that glossary item or term on the page.
In Data Catalog, you can choose different views to understand the glossary items. Under View As, you can choose to display the Business Glossary page in the following ways:
Canvas
The Canvas view offers a visual and organized representation of your glossary, allowing you to create, manage, and visualize business terms more intuitively. For more information, see Canvas view.
Galaxy
The Galaxy view provides a different visual layout, that is useful for exploring relationships and connections between glossary items. For more information, see Galaxy view.
Table
If you prefer a more structured and tabular view, you can choose Table view, which presents your glossary items in a clear and organized format. For more information, see Table view.
Canvas view
On the Business Glossary page, the canvas view is selected by default. It allows users to create and manage business glossaries visually and intuitively. This view is designed to help organizations define and maintain a common set of business terms and their associated definitions, ensuring clarity and consistency in data-related discussions. Refer to the following options available on the Business Glossary page.
Glossary name
Name of the domain, category, or term in Data Catalog. When you hover the mouse pointer on the glossary name, select the pencil icon if you want to edit this name. In addition, you can view the time stamp of the last update below the glossary name.
Last Updated
A timestamp indicating when the glossary item was last updated.
Actions
A drop-down with the following features:
Feature Description View Galaxy Takes you to the Galaxy View of the selected glossary. Here, you can see the organization of glossary terms and their related categories and domains. Focus Opens another Canvas view with the selected item focused. It may be useful when you want to share a glossary link. Copy Link Copies the link of the selected glossary to the clipboard. Remove Deletes the selected glossary item. Summary tab
Provides a summarized view of the chosen glossary item. In the Summary tab, you can view the following information.
NoteThe information is visible depends on the glossary item you have selected.Feature Description Definition Definitions serve as the single and definitive reference for an organization. You can addor edit the definition of the domain, category, or term. For example, you should define the purpose of the specified term for your users. Purpose Provides a brief description or explanation of a glossary's purpose or use case. It can help you to understand why the glossary was created, what it's intended for, and how it might be relevant. In addition, you can also addor edit the purpose of the domain, category, or term. Properties Displaysthe properties of the domain, category, or term. Type
The type of the glossary, like domain, category, or glossary.
Domain
The domain name to which it belongs.
Category (only for categories and terms)
The categry name to which it belongs.
Term (only for terms)
The name of the selected term.
Created By
The user who created the glossary item.
Owner(s)
The user, who is responsible for managing the glossary.
Tags Lists the tags linked to the resource. You can also click to start adding your own tags, which will assist in identifying the resource using specific keywords. Data Elements tab
Lists the associated data elements for the selected glossary term. It provides details such as the data element's name, type, associated tags, and the data source it's linked to. You can customize the displayed columns and apply filters to refine the list. To get detailed information, click the View Details button (<) next to an item to view the data element in the Canvas view with a highlighted focus. In addition, you can add new data elements using the Add Data Elements option.
Custom tab (only for term)
Lists the custom properties and values associated with the glossary. You can customize the displayed columns and apply filters to refine the list. In addition, to add a custom property, click Add Custom Property and provide the required information. For more information, see Manage custom properties.
Rules tab
Lists the associated business rules for the selected glossary term. It provides additional details such as the business rule name, type, owner, and created time stamp and status. You can customize the displayed columns and apply filters to refine the list. To get detailed information, click the View Details button (<) next to an item to view the business rule details, where you can modify the rule. In addition, you can add existing business rules using the Add Business Rules option. For more information, see Manage rules.
Related tab (only for term)
Lists the associated business terms of the chosen glossary term. It provides details such as the business term name, owner, and respective domain and category. You can customize the displayed columns and apply filters to refine the list. To get detailed information, click the View Details button (<) next to an item to view the business term in the Business Glossary page with focus activated. In addition, you can add existing business terms using the Add Related option. For more information, see Manage business glossary.
Comments tab
Post a comment or view the comments posted on the selected glossary along with the comment owner. On each comment, you can reply and delete (your comment unless you are an admin). In addition, in the comment dialog box, you can format the text using tools like bold, italic, underline, and strikeout. You can also align text, insert code blocks, and add links as needed. This helps to share information with the other users and collaborate better within the application, such as initiating a discussion thread to identify and resolve a problem.
Galaxy view
You can use the Galaxy view feature to quickly view the structure of your data and its details. This feature is especially useful when you want to view information that is not easily visualized using the navigation tree in the Data Canvas. When you open the data in Galaxy view, you can see the relationships in your data from a bird's eye view, and drill down into the data for specific details.
When using a keyword search in Galaxy view, you can limit the scope of the returned data using filters. For example, an information security officer may want to find all the databases that contain credit card information. In Galaxy view, they can search for “credit” while setting the filter to Columns and locate key columns of credit card information across multiple databases. Adjusting the filter to Tables only returns results when a table contains "credit" in the title.
You can access Galaxy View from Data Canvas or from Business Glossary.
- To access Galaxy view from the Data Canvas, select a folder or other resource, click Actions and select View Galaxy.
- To access Galaxy View from the Business Glossary page, select a glossary item, that is a domain, category, or term, click Actions and select View Galaxy.
Here are the key tasks you can perform in Galaxy view:
Search
Enter a keyword and select Search to find specific information within the resources. For example, enter "address" to just show those sources, tables, and columns containing address information.
View Details
Right-click on a selected data resource or column in Galaxy view and select View Details. The details panel appears. Depending on your selection, you can view different information, such as properties, tags, and custom properties. Additionally, you can also view and add business terms to the resource.
View Items
Right-click on a data resource in Galaxy view and select View Items. You can view the associated parent and child data assets in a tree view.
Select and Select Tree
To select a single data resource, right-click on a data resource in Galaxy view and click Select. Additionally, you can select associated data resources by clicking Select Tree. When an item is selected, you can right-click and Deselect the item
Focus
Right-click on a selected data resource or table and select Focus. Only the resource and its children appear. Continue to drill down using the Focus option as needed or select Leave Focus to return to the full view.
Filter
If you want to reduce the amount of data displayed, you can filter the level of detail in your view by columns or tables. In Galaxy view, click Filters to open the Filters dialog box and select one or more of the following options.
Level of Detail
By default, Galaxy view shows down to the table level as a reduced set of data. Click Columns and apply to have a detailed view down to the column level.
Show Relationships
Helps to limit the results in the view with the data resources that are Declared Foreign Key and Discovered Foreign Key.
Show only Related Items
When the Show Relationships is active, you can choose a threshold number to refine the results further.
Show only Tagged Items
Select this check box to limit the results in the view with the data resources that have associated tags. You can further refine your view by selecting specific tags.
Show only Items with Business Terms
To further limit the results in the view, select this check box. You can further refine your view by selecting specific business terms.
Show Data Elements
You can also choose to show the data elements by selecting this check box.
Reset
Discard your filters.
Apply
See Galaxy view with your applied filters.
Table view
On the Business Glossary page, when you choose Table in the View As dropdown menu, it displays the glossary items and their related information in tabular format. This view has the following features.
Domains tab
Lists all available domains and additional information like domain name, created timestamp, who created it, owners, and added tags. You can customize the displayed columns and apply filters to refine the list. To get detailed information, click the View Details button (<) next to an item to view the domain in the canvas view with focus activated.
Categories tab
Lists all available categories and additional information like category name, created timestamp, who created it, owners, and added tags. You can customize the displayed columns and apply filters to refine the list. To get detailed information, click the View Details button (<) next to an item to view the category in the canvas view with focus activated.
Terms tab
Lists all available terms and additional information like associated domain, category term name, created timestamp, who created it, owners, added tags, and custom properties. You can customize the displayed columns and apply filters to refine the list. To get detailed information, click the View Details button (<) next to an item to view the term in the canvas view with focus activated.
Actions
You can add respective glossary items based on the tab you select. For information on how to add glossary items, see Manage business glossary.