πͺ Did you know? When tagging an asset, you can also customize how tags are propagated to the child and downstream assets.
Atlan propagates tags to related assets for you automatically.
To downstream assets
Atlan propagates tags through lineage. For example:
- You tag a column as
PII
. - That column has downstream columns (in lineage).
- Atlan will tag those downstream columns as
PII
, too, if propagation is enabled.
This is particularly useful when you want to tag data for protection reasons. When combined with purposes, Atlan will protect all downstream copies of the data automatically.
To child assets
Atlan also propagates tags from parent to child assets. For example:
- You tag a database table as
Marketing Analysis
. - Atlan will tag all the columns in that table as
Marketing Analysis
, too, if propagation is enabled. - You can also configure the propagation of your tags:
- Hierarchy & lineage allows tag propagation to child and downstream assets.
- Hierarchy only (no lineage) allows tag propagation to child assets only.
- No propagation disables any tag propagation.
This is particularly useful when you want to tag data for a business domain or project use. Atlan will include all assets under the level you tag in that business domain or project.