Business Term Properties
A business term is a word or phrase that uses business language to define relevant concepts for business users in an organization. A business term contains properties such as name, description, and usage.
Business terms contain properties in the following sections:
- General
- Contains global properties, such as name, relationships to other terms, and link to policies.
- Status
- Contains properties about the current status and phase of the business term. The status indicates the validity of the business term. The phase changes based on the tasks that the content managers perform.
- People
- Contains properties to identify content managers for the term.
- Context
- Contains properties to define the context, such as description, usage context, and example.
- Related assets
- Contains properties to track related assets, such as related terms, data assets, and rule assets.
- Activity
- Contains properties to track activity, such as history and comments.
The Activity and Related Assets sections are visible when you open a business term.
Note: You might see a different set of properties in the business term if the glossary administrator modified the business term template.
General Properties
The General section contains global properties, such as name, relationships to other terms, and link to policies.
Business terms contain the following properties in the General section:
- Name
- Business term name.
- Synonyms
- Names that are synonymous with the current business term.
A business term displays the following properties for a synonym:
- - Name. The name of the synonym.
- - Context. Indicates how the synonym and business term are synonymous.
- - Status. Indicates if a synonym is valid. The status can be active or inactive.
- - Retirement Date. The date after which a synonym in active status changes to inactive status. The Analyst tool changes the status based on the retirement date the content manager sets.
For example, "mortgage" is used as a synonym for "loan." Mortgage is the term used in the context of a loan borrowed to purchase property.
- Categories
- A descriptive classification of the business term. The categories appear as a link to open the category.
For example, the business terms "portfolio" and "stocks" might be associated with the "investments" category.
- Business Initiative
- A business initiative to which the business term belongs.
- See also
- Terms that are similar or related to the current term. The terms appear as a link to open the term.
- For example, if the current business term is "interest," the related terms can be "fixed interest" and "floating interest."
- Not same as
- Terms that are similar to the current business term but have a different business purpose. The terms appear as a link to open the term.
For example, the term "payroll" is not the same as the term "salary."
- Parent
- Terms that have a parent relationship to the current business term. The current business term is a child of the parent business term. The parent business term appears as a link to open the term.
For example, if the current business term is "fixed mortgage," the parent business term might be "mortgage."
- Children
- Terms that have a child relationship to the current business term. The child relationship indicates that the child terms have properties that are similar to, or inherited from the parent term. The terms appear as a link to open the term. This property is read-only.
- Contains
- Other business terms that are used in the implementation of the current business term. The terms appear as a link to open the term.
For example, the current business term "purchase order" can contain another business term "order date."
- Calculated From
- Business terms from which you can calculated the value of the current business term.
- For example, the value of the term "gross profit" is calculated from the value of the business term "revenue."
- Rules
- Policies or rules that govern the business term. A business term can have both rules and policies. Policies have to go through an approval cycle before they are published. Rules are created when defining the business term. Policies and rules appear as a link.
A business term displays the following properties for a rule:
- - Name. The name of the rule.
- - Rule Intent. The purpose of the rule.
- - Policy. Indicates the linked policy which governs the term. The policies appear as a link to open the policy. For example, if the current business term is "Social Security number," the linked policy might be "privacy policy."
- - Asset. The number of linked rule assets. The linked rule assets are displayed in the Related Assets section.
For example, you can apply a rule to "mortgage" that defines that the information is complete when it contains values for interest rate, name of the lender, name of the borrower, and address of the property. You can also link a policy that mandates the mortgage information must be complete before the mortgage information is published to customers. The rule and policy tell the glossary consumer about the parameters that define conformance to the policy.
- Source
- The origin of the information contained within the business term.
A business term can originate from one of the following sources:
- - Internal. Indicates that someone within the organization developed the business term.
- - External. Indicates that someone within the organization used an external source to develop the business term.
Status Properties
The Status section contains properties about the current status and phase of the business term. The status indicates the validity of the term. The phase corresponds to the type of tasks the content managers perform. The current status and phase is applicable for the current revision of the business term.
Business terms contain the following properties in the Status section:
- Status
- The current status of the business term.
A term can have one of the following statuses:
- - Active. Indicates that the business term is valid for the organization. All Business Glossary users can see the term.
- - Inactive. Indicates that the business term is not valid for the organization or not ready for the glossary consumers to view.
- Phase
- The current phase of the business term. The value of this property changes when the data steward defines, proposes, or publishes the business term.
A term can exist in one of the following phases:
- - Draft. Indicates that the data steward created the business term.
- - In Review. Indicates that the data steward proposed a review by the stakeholder.
- - Rejected. Indicates that the stakeholder reviewed and rejected the business term.
- - Published. Indicates that the data steward published the business term.
- - Pending Publish. Indicates that the business term is part of a business initiative which is not yet published.
Glossary consumers can see published business terms.
People Properties
The People section contains business term properties to identify content managers for the term.
Business terms contain the following properties in the People section:
- Owner
- The business term owner.
- Data Steward
- The user who manages the business term content.
- Stakeholders
- One or more users who participate in the approval process before the data steward publishes the business term.
Context Properties
The Context section contains properties that provide background information about the term, such as description, usage context, and example.
Business terms contain the following properties in the Context section:
- Description
- Description of the business term.
- Usage Context
- Information that describes the context of the business term usage.
For example, the business term "risk management" is described differently based on the context.
The following table describes the context for the business term "risk management":
Usage Context | Description |
|---|
Legal | The use of insurance to minimize exposure to liability in the event of a loss or injury. |
Finance | Quantifying the potential for losses in an investment and taking appropriate actions based on investment objectives and tolerance to risk. |
- Example
- An example that shows the usage of the business term.
- Reference Table URL
- A link to the reference table that contains the valid values that are associated with the business term.
For example, if the current business term is "mortgage," the URL can contain a link to a reference table that provides fixed mortgage rates.
Related Assets Properties
The Related Assets section contains properties to view related assets, such as related terms, data assets, and rule assets.
Business terms contain the following properties in the Related Assets section:
- Related terms
- Terms that are related to the current business term. The terms appear as a link to open the term.
- Data assets
- A data asset is a type of data object that represents either a physical data source, data domain, or a Metadata manager catalog object.
Business terms can contain the following types of data asset links:
- - Data domains. A predefined or user-defined Model repository object based on the semantics of column data or a column name.
- - Data objects. Metadata sources from which you want to extract metadata to analyze.
- - Metadata Manager catalog objects. The catalog that contains information about metadata objects.
- For example, sensitive data such as Social Security numbers are stored in a data domain. The data asset for the business term "sensitive data" contains a link to the data domain location. An auditor or governing body who reads the business term can see the location where sensitive data is stored.
- Rule assets
- Rule assets are mapplet rules or rule definitions that contain transformations or business logic.
Business terms can contain the following types of rule asset links:
- - Mapplet rule. A reusable object in repositories that contains a set of transformations.
- - Rule definition. Business logic that defines conditions applied to data when you run a profile.
For example, the organization requires sensitive information such as Social Security number to be masked. A mapplet rule defines how a Social Security number is masked. The mapplet rule is linked as a rule asset to the business term "Social Security number." An auditor or governing body who reads the business term can also see the mapplet rule used to mask the data.
Data assets and rule assets are read-only and appear when you open a business term. Create a link to the business term from the data asset.
Activity Properties
The Activity section contains properties to track activity.
The Activity section is visible when you open a business term.
Business terms contain the following properties in the Activity section:
- View History
- Displays the history of tasks such as import, publish, or revise performed on the current term.
- Comments
- Displays the comments for the current term.
Creating an Asset