Metamodel is a feature in the Microsoft Purview Data Map that helps add rich business context to your data catalog. It tells a story about how your data is grouped in data domains, how it's used in business processes, what projects are impacted by the data, and ultimately how the data fits in the day to day of your business.
The context metamodel provides is important because business users, the people who are consuming the data, often have non-technical questions about the data, such as:
- What department produces this dataset?
- Are there any projects that are using this dataset?
- Where does this report come from?
When you scan data into Microsoft Purview, the technical metadata can tell you what the data looks like, if the data has been classified, or if it has glossary terms assigned, but it can't tell you where and how that data is used. The metamodel gives your users that information.
With Metamodel, you have the ability to:
- Create asset types that describe important parts of your business (e.g. business processes, departments, lines of business, products, etc).
- Establish relationships between assets that you want to represent (e.g. a department manages a business process. An organization has departments, etc).
Example below of two asset types (Organization and Department) connected via a relationship (has).
flowchart LR
G(Organization) ---> |1:N has| D(Departments)
Once asset types and relationships have been defined, we can create and relate business assets (instances of an asset type).
flowchart LR
G(Contoso<br>Organization) ---> |1:N has| D(Sales<br>Department)
- Create a custom asset type.
- Define a custom relationship.
- Create and relate business assets.
- Bulk import business assets.
| # | Section | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Create an Asset Type | Data map administrator |
| 2 | Create a Relationship | Data map administrator |
| 3 | Create a Business Asset | Data curator |
| 4 | Bulk Import Assets | Data curator |
An asset type is a template definition for a particular type of asset. For example, you may create an asset type called Parent Company with asset type specific attributes such as Industry and Founded. Once the asset type for Parent Company has been created, we can then create business assets of that type (instances of parent company). For example, an instance of parent company might be XYZ Inc, who specialize in the Manufacturing industry, and was founded in 1985.
💡 Did you know?
Microsoft Purview provides a set of predefined asset types which you can augment and extend to meet your business needs.
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From the Microsoft Purview Governance Portal, navigate to Data map > Asset types, and click New asset type.
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Copy and paste the values below into the matching fields (Name and Description), set the Type to
Organization, and click New attribute.Name
Parent CompanyDescription
A parent company is a company that owns one or more other companies, known as subsidiaries.
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Copy and paste the values below into the matching fields (Name and Description), check Mark as required, set the Field type to
Date, and click Apply.Attribute name
FoundedDescription
The founded date of a company refers to the date on which the company was established or incorporated.
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Click Create.
Similar to asset types, we can create relationship definitions (e.g. Parent Company has Organizations) which act as the template describing how asset instances interact with one another (e.g. XYZ Conglomerate has ABC Labs).
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From the Microsoft Purview Governance Portal, navigate to Data map > Asset types and click New relationship.
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Set Asset type (Head) to
Parent Company, set Asset type (Tail) toOrganization, set Relationship toHas, set the Relationship category toComposition, set the Cardinality toOne to many, and click Create.
💡 Did you know?
Microsoft Purview has three types of relationship categories:
Association,Aggregation, andComposition.
Association is a relationship between two assets where one asset uses the other asset, but there is no ownership (no containment). This means that the two asset types are independent of each other. For example, a
Departmentasset type might have an association with anApplicationasset type, but theApplicationcan exist without theDepartmentand vice versa.Aggregation is a special kind of containment association where one asset is the owner (container) of the other asset, but the lifecycles of the container and the children are totally independent. For example, a
Systemasset type might have an aggregation relationship with aDatabaseasset type.Composition is a special kind of containment association where one asset type is the owner of the other asset type and the ownership is exclusive. This means throughout the lifetime of the objects, the children cannot exist without the container (tightly bound). For example, an
Organizationasset type might have a composition relationship with aDepartmentasset type, where aDepartmentobject can't exist without anOrganizationobject. When theOrganizationobject is deleted, theDepartmentobjects associated with it is also deleted.
Relationship Category Type Lifecycle If Container (Head) Deleted... Association No Containment Independant Children (Tail) continue to exist Aggregation Containment Independant Children (Tail) continue to exist Composition Containment Dependant Children (Tail) are deleted
Now that we have our prerequisite asset types, we can create and relate business assets (instances of an asset type).
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From the Microsoft Purview Governance Portal, navigate to Data catalog > Business assets, and click New asset.
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Set the Asset type to
Parent Company, copy and paste the values below into the matching fields (Name and Description), and set the Founded attribute to10/18/2003, and click Create.Name
XYZ ConglomerateDescription
The XYZ Conglomerate is a multinational corporation that specializes in a diverse range of industries, including technology, healthcare, finance, and retail. The company was founded in the early 21st century and has since grown to become one of the largest and most powerful corporations in the world.
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We will now create an
Organizationasset, which will be part of parent companyXYZ Conglomerate. Navigate to Data catalog > Business assets, and click New asset. -
Set the Asset type to
Organization, copy and paste the values below into the matching fields (Name and Description), and navigte to the Related tab.Name
ABC LabsDescription
The ABC Labs is a subsidiary of the XYZ Conglomerate, focused on providing cutting-edge technology solutions to businesses and governments worldwide. Founded in the mid-21st century, the ABC Labs has quickly established itself as a leader in the field of artificial intelligence and automation.
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Within the Define relationships panel, click Add linked assets (Parent Company).
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From the search results, select
XYZ Conglomerate, and click Add.
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Click Create.
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Visualize the relationship between the business assets by navigating to the Related tab. Reveal the reverse relationship by setting the drop down menu to
Show reverse relationship.
Microsoft Purview also allows for the bulk creation of business assets by uploading a prepared CSV file.
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Navigate to Data catalog > Business assets and click Import assets.
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Download a copy of import_business_assets.csv to your local machine. Open the link in a new tab, right-click within the body of the content, and click Save as.
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Set the Asset type to
Department, click Browse, open the local copy of import_business_assets.csv, and click OK.
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Once the import is complete, click Refresh. You should see a list of the newly created assets.
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Which application within the Microsoft Purview Governance Portal has the ability to define new asset types?
A ) Data policy
B ) Data catalog
C ) Data map -
Which category is most appropriate where two asset types are related, while also being completely independent of one another (can exist without the other, and vice versa)?
A ) Association
B ) Aggregation
C ) Composition -
A Business Asset is an instance of an Asset Type.
A ) True
B ) False
You have successfully defined a custom asset type, created and related business assets, and used the import method to create assets in bulk.