Manage tags in Semarchy xDG

In Semarchy xDG tags are labels or metadata attributes assigned to data assets to provide additional information or context about them.

In a data catalog, tags are user-created labels assigned to data assets to provide additional information or context about them. Tags may serve several purposes:

  • Categorization: Tags help categorize and classify data assets based on their characteristics, content, or usage. This aids in organizing and searching for data within the catalog.

  • Search and Discovery: Users can use tags to search for specific types of data or to filter results, making it easier to find relevant information quickly.

  • Contextual Information: Tags provide additional context about the data, such as its source, quality, or compliance status, helping users understand the data’s relevance and reliability.

  • Data Governance: Tags can indicate informal data ownership, data lineage, data sensitivity, and compliance requirements, facilitating effective data governance and compliance monitoring.

  • Collaboration: Tags can support collaboration by highlighting data assets of interest or relevance to specific teams or projects.

For example, in a data catalog for a healthcare organization, tags might include "Patient Data," "Medical Records," "Sensitive," "HIPAA Compliant," and "Cardiology Department," among others. These tags provide valuable information about the data’s nature and usage, aiding both data managers and users in their interactions with the catalog.

Tags vs. Glossary

Tags are user-curated. Users can freely create and assign tags to assets. Tags should be considered informal organization, also known as a folksonomy. They should be used in the early stages of your governance initiative to enable user-curated and lightweight governance. Widely used tags should be eventually promoted to "official and governed" organizational artifacts such as initiatives or glossary terms.

For example, users can start by tagging assets with sensitivity tags such as "Confidential", "Internal" and "Public". Once the corporate sensitivity scheme is agreed upon and defined in the business glossary as a format taxonomy, tagged assets should be associated by authorized users to the corresponding sensitivity glossary terms.

Create and associate tags

When editing an asset, a domain, or an initiative, you can assign multiple tags. If you assign a tag that does not exist yet, it is automatically created.

Edit tags

To edit a tag:

  1. Select an asset or initiative this tag is assigned to.

  2. Click the tag’s chip on that asset.
    The tag editor opens.

  3. Edit the Tag’s Description.

  4. (Optional) Add Owners to this tags

From this editor, you can also delete the tag by clicking Delete icon Delete. When you delete a tag, it is removed from all the assets using it.