How to manage custom metadata structures

Before users or integrations can enrich assets with custom metadata, you must first define its structure.

Create custom metadata structure

To create a new custom metadata structure:

1. From the left menu of any screen, click Governance.
2. Under the Metadata heading, click Custom Metadata.
3. Under the Start adding custom metadata heading, click the + Get started to add a new structure:
   1. For Name enter a name for the custom metadata structure. (In our examples, this would be IPR or ETL.)
   2. (Optional) To personalize your custom metadata, to the left of the name, click the image icon. From the upper right of the corresponding dialog:
      • Click Icons to add an icon to your custom metadata. Click the gray box to change the color of the icon to green, yellow, or red.
      • Click Emoji to add an emoji to your custom metadata.
      • Click Upload Image to upload an image for your custom metadata. The recommended size for image uploads is 24x24 pixels.
   3. (Optional) Add a description of the custom metadata below these.
   4. At the bottom right of the dialog, click the Create button.

Create properties in the structure

To create custom metadata properties within a custom metadata structure:

1. From the left menu of any screen, click Governance.
2. Under the Metadata heading, click Custom Metadata.
3. Under the Custom Metadata heading, select the custom metadata structure you want to change.
4. Click the New property button (no properties yet) or Add property button (to add more properties):
   1. For Name, enter a name for one property. (In our examples, this would be one of License type, Provider, Job link, and so on.)
   2. For Type, select the type of value you expect users to use for this property:
      • The Text type allows free-form text values.
      • The Integer type allows only whole numbers (no decimals).
      • The Decimal type allows fractional numbers (those with decimal points).
      • The Boolean type allows only a Yes or a No value.
      • The Date type allows both date and time values in the following format — day, month, year, hours, minutes, and seconds.
      • The Options type allows you to define your own set of predefined options for values that are valid.
      • The Users type allows only existing Atlan users as values.
      • The Groups type allows only existing Atlan groups as values.
      • The URL type allows only web links.
      • The SQL type allows only SQL code.
   3. (Optional) For Description, enter an explanation for how you expect users to use this property.
   4. If you chose Options as the type, either:
      • Under Select Options, select an existing set of options to reuse.
      • Click the Create New link to create a new set of options.
        1. Under Option name, give the options a name.
        2. Under Values, enter the list of values considered valid (separated by ;).
   5. (Optional) Under Assets, you can configure the connections and asset types on which this custom metadata should be visible to:
      1. For Connections, select the connection to which you want to limit users to be able to enrich assets with this property. For example, you may want a property to only apply to a specific Snowflake connection.
      2. For Applicable asset types, select the kinds of assets you want users to be able to enrich with this property. For example, you may want a property to only apply to SQL assets like tables and views, and not to BI assets.
   6.  (Optional) Under Glossary assets, you can configure the glossaries and glossary asset types on which this custom metadata should be visible to:
      1. For Glossaries, select the glossaries to which you want to limit users to be able to enrich assets with this property.
      2. For Applicable asset types, select the glossary assets you want users to be able to enrich with this property. For example, you may want a property to only apply to terms within a glossary, and not to categories.
   7. (Optional) Under Domain assets, you can configure the data domains, subdomains, and products on which this custom metadata should be visible to:
      1. For Domains, select the domains or subdomains to which you want to limit users to be able to enrich with this property.
      2. For Applicable asset types, select the domains, subdomains, or products you want users to be able to enrich with this property. For example, you may want a property to only apply to products within a specific subdomain, and not to the parent domain.
   8. (Optional) Under Other assets, for Applicable asset types, select assets that neither fall under the rubric of a connection or glossary — currently only file assets are supported.
   9. (Optional) Under Configurations toggle any extra settings for the property:
      • Allow multiple values controls whether users can enter more than a single value for this property. (Note: this is only available for some types.)
      • Show in filter controls whether users can filter on this property when doing asset discovery.
      • Show in overview controls whether the property will show up in the Overview sidebar tab of assets. (All properties will show in the custom metadata's own tab, but those with this Show in overview enabled will also show in the Overview tab.)

That's it, your users can now enrich assets with this custom metadata! 🎉

Delete properties from a structure

To delete custom metadata properties from a custom metadata structure:

1. From the left menu of any screen, click Governance.
2. Under the Metadata heading, click Custom Metadata.
3. Under the Custom Metadata heading, select the custom metadata structure you want to change.
4. In the properties table on the right, click the delete icon on the far right of the row containing the property to delete the property.
5. When prompted for confirmation, click the Confirm button.

Delete custom metadata structure

You can also delete an entire custom metadata structure.

To delete a custom metadata structure:

1. From the left menu of any screen, click Governance.
2. Under the Metadata heading, click Custom Metadata.
3. Under the Custom Metadata heading, select the custom metadata structure you want to delete.
4. In the upper right of the custom metadata structure, click the red delete icon.
5. When prompted for confirmation, click the Delete button.

View linked assets

Once users in your organization have enriched their assets with custom metadata, you will be able to view the linked assets right from the governance center.

To view assets with custom metadata:

1. From the left menu of any screen, click Governance.
2. Under the Metadata heading, click Custom Metadata.
3. Under the Custom Metadata heading, click Linked Assets to view all the assets linked to the custom metadata.
4. (Optional) Click any asset to open the asset sidebar for more details.