Create and manage business concept attributes (preview)

Business concept attributes are a type of user-defined custom metadata in Microsoft Purview Unified Catalog that you can create and apply to your organization's business concepts for better organization, governance, and discovery.

The Custom metadata (preview) area in Unified Catalog > Catalog management is where you create and manage business concept attributes.

Workflow and tasks by role

Creating and managing business concept attributes involves three basic steps, each involving certain user roles and functions in your organization:

1. Admins create and maintain the attributes and attribute group definitions.
2. Data stewards and data product owners update the values for business concept attributes defined by their admins.
3. Data consumers or catalog readers can use business concept attributes to filter their view of published business concepts.

Use this table to guide you to relevant tasks depending on your role in the organization. See Data governance roles and permissions for role descriptions and how to assign roles.

Know before you start

Before you start creating attributes, we recommend reviewing these sections:

• Understand attributes and groups
• Field types for attribute values
• Scope settings for attribute groups

Understand attributes and groups

• Business concept attributes: Business concepts, such as governance domains and glossary terms, help you organize and understand your data in ways that make sense for your organization. An attribute is user-defined metadata that you can apply to your business concepts to better describe your organization's unique needs.

• Attribute groups: A category by which you group attributes, allowing for easier organization and consumption.

Field types for attribute values

Business concept attributes can include several types of values, such as text-based descriptions, numerical identifiers, or date-based identifiers. During the attribute creation process, the field type options are:

• Text
• Single choice: When you select this type, a Choices field appears, where you enter a name for the choice and can add more choices.
• Multiple choice: When you select this type, a Choices field appears, where you enter a name for the choice and can add more choices.
• Date
• Boolean
• Byte
• Double
• Float
• Integer
• Long
• Rich text
• Short

See Add values to attributes for more details.

Scope setting for attribute groups

The Scope setting for attribute groups allows you to apply attributes to a broad array of governance domains and business concepts in Unified Catalog at once.

When you create an attribute group, the Scope settings allow you to select all or some governance domains, business concepts, and data product types. Setting a scope means that every attribute in that group will apply to the governance domains, business concepts, and data products that you selected for that group.

Scope defaults to all governance domains and business concepts during the attribute group creation process. If scope needs to be narrowed, select each dropdown within Scope and set it to the desired scope.

When creating or editing an attribute, you can accept the Inherit Group Scope setting, which applies the group scope to the attribute, or you can override the inherited setting and select individual governance domains and business concepts as the scope for that particular attribute within the group.

Create and edit attribute groups

All business concept attributes must be connected to an attribute group. You might want to develop a grouping strategy ahead of time, then create one or more attribute groups before creating the attributes you'll assign to the groups. Alternatively, you can create an attribute group at the point in the attribute creation process where you assign a group to the attribute.

Create an attribute group

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Purview portal > Solutions > Unified Catalog with an account that has a role in a tenant level role group.

2. Under Catalog management, select Custom metadata.

3. On the Business concept attributes tab, select New, then select New attribute group.

4. On the New attribute group flyout pane, enter an Attribute group name and an optional description.

5. You can create a new business concept attribute at this stage by selecting New attribute. This is the only stage at which you can mark an attribute as required.

6. Under Scope, select the Governance Domains, Business Concepts, and Data product types that will apply to the group and all attributes assigned to the group. All values are checked by default, so be sure to uncheck any values you don't want. Get more details on scope settings.

7. When done, select Create.

The group is now listed on the Business concept attributes tab of the Custom metadata (preview) page.

View and edit an attribute group

Find the name of an attribute group on the Business concept attributes tab, hover over its row and select the Edit pencil icon. A flyout pane appears, which contains all the details of the attribute group, including a list of all attributes in the group.

Add a new attribute to the group by selecting New attribute.

To change the scope of an attribute in the group or edit any details of the attribute, select the attribute name, make edits on the Edit attribute flyout pane, then select Apply.

Mark an attribute as required

When you create a business concept attribute as part of a business concept attribute group, you can make the attribute required by selecting Mark as required. Marking as required means that a value must be provided for the attribute. When a business concept is created or edited, the value for the required attribute must be filled out before you can complete the creation or editing process.

Create attributes

1. Sign in to the Microsoft Purview portal > Solutions > Unified Catalog with an account that has the Data Steward role.

2. Under Catalog management, select Custom metadata.

3. On the Business concept attributes tab, select New, then select New attribute.

4. On the New attribute flyout pane, enter an Attribute name and an optional description.

   Note

   You can create more than one attribute with the same name and link them to different attribute groups. Providing a detailed description for identically named attributes can help avoid confusion or the misapplication of attributes.

5. Select Mark as required if you want to require a value be provided for the attribute. This option is only available when creating an attribute during the process of creating an attribute group (learn more).

6. At Attribute group, select a group name from the dropdown list.

   • You can create a new attribute group at this step by selecting New, then follow the steps to create an attribute group.
   • If you're creating the attribute at the same time as you're creating the group, the Attribute group selector doesn't show; the attribute is automatically associated to the group you're creating.

7. At Field type, select an attribute field type.

8. The Inherit Group Scope toggle is on by default, which means that the attribute will have the same scope as the group to which you assign it. To override scope inheritance, toggle off the switch. Then select the individual governance domains, business concepts, and data product types that you want the attribute to apply to. Get details on scope settings.

9. When done, select Create.

Your attribute now appears on the list of attributes on the Business concept attributes tab, nested under its group.

Edit attributes

An admin can make edits to attribute groups and attributes. You can update the description, the scope, or set an attribute or group as expired. When you edit an attribute group, you can add attributes to it.

Follow these steps to make edits:

1. Find the attribute or group from the list on the Custom metadata page.
2. Hover over the name and select the Edit pencil icon.
3. Make your edits, then select Update.

Add values to attributes

Data stewards and data product owners can set and update values for attributes that are defined by their admins. The values don't have to be filled in at the time of business concept creation. However, if an attribute is marked as required, then whenever a user creates or edits an attribute, the values must be filled in before the attribute editing process can be completed.

Delete attribute values

Attributes that are expired display a trash can icon next to them when viewed on a business concept's Custom attributes page. To delete an attribute value:

• Open the business concept details page and select Edit.
• On the Custom attributes page, find the attribute you want to delete (expired attributes appear as grayed out).
• Select the trash can icon next to the attribute. The attribute is removed from the view.
• Select Save.

Expire an attribute or attribute group

A business concept attribute can't be deleted, and a business concept attribute group can't be deleted. They can only be expired. When an attribute or attribute group is expired, you can't apply them to other business concepts, and they can't be reactivated.

• When you expire an attribute: Any business concepts that had the attribute applied will continue to show that attribute.

• When you expire an attribute group: All the attributes within the group are also expired. Any business concepts that had an attribute within this group applied to it will continue to show that attribute.

To expire an attribute or attribute group:

1. On the Business concept attributes tab of the Custom metadata (preview) page, find the attribute or attribute group you want to expire and select the Edit pencil icon.
2. On the Edit attribute or Edit attribute group pane, select the Mark as expired checkbox.
3. Select Update.

View attributes and use as filters

Attributes are viewable, and can be used as filters, in various ways:

• List view of all attributes on the Custom metadata (preview) page.
• Displayed on a business concept's details page
• As a filter when exploring business concepts.
• As a filter for exploring data products.

On the Custom metadata (preview) page

Business concept attributes are listed in Unified Catalog > Catalog management > Custom metadata on the Business concept attributes tab. The list is organized by group name. Use the arrow next to the group name to expand or collapse the list of attributes underneath a group.

On a business concept details page

You can view details about attributes on the details pages for all business concepts and data products:

• Governance domains
• Data products
• Critical data elements
• Glossary terms
• Objectives and key results (OKRs)

Filters for viewing business concepts

You can use business concept attributes as a filter when browsing and searching for business concepts.

1. Go to Unified Catalog > Discovery > Enterprise glossary.
2. Select the tab of the business concept you want to search in. If you're searching in a governance domain, select View all on a business concept card.
3. Select Add filter.
4. At Filter, select an attribute name from the dropdown list.
5. At Operator, select a condition, such as Equals or Starts with, which will vary based on the kinds of values allowed by the attribute.
6. At Value, enter your value.
7. Select Apply.

Filter for exploring data products

When you explore data products by governance domains, you can filter your view by data asset attributes.

1. In Unified Catalog, go to Discovery > Data products.
2. Select Explore all. You arrive at the Explore data products by governance domain page.
3. Select Add filter.
4. At Filter, select an attribute name from the dropdown list.
5. At Operator, select a condition, such as Equals or Starts with, which will vary based on the kinds of values allowed by the attribute.
6. At Value, enter your value.
7. Select Apply.