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Worksheets

Worksheets provides metadata reporting capabilities where both search and browse (as well as a direct link in the OBJECTS menu) lead to a common worksheet page:

  • One may start from search and then migrating to a worksheet allows for simple text filtering as a basis for a worksheet (e.g. customer)

  • One may easily start from a category (e.g. database / tables)

  • One may save and share worksheets so that other users may quickly reproduce and build on earlier queries/filtering/column selections

  • Direct access to a default worksheet does not predefine anything.

The worksheet capabilities offer you the ability to select multiple object types (e.g. database / tables + Flat files) and subset by model (My Data lake + Sales DW database) before drilling down with a large number of filters:

Filtering is available on a number of properties of an object, including most all properties which may be included as columns in a worksheet. Filters of particular note are detailed individually.

Worksheets can be reused and shared using the Share functionality. However, one may also do so by saving the URL as favorites (further versions will support full report management within the application).

Search Worksheet by Category

You may also

Steps

  1. Select WORKSHEETS > CATEGORIES and pick an object category to build a worksheet.

You have created a transient search worksheet.

Example

Sign in as Administrator and go to WORKSHEETS > CATEGORIES > File > Fields and enter a NAME and DEFINITION.

Create a Worksheet

To build a worksheet, you generally begin by searching. You may also go straight to the create option on the manage worksheets page. There are several options available for creating as worksheet.

Create a Worksheet from the Worksheets Menu.

In this way you are creating a full worksheet (not the limited search worksheet).

Steps

  1. Sign in as a user with the Worksheet Customization capability global role assignment.

  2. Select WORKSHEETS > New Worksheet from the header.

  3. Enter a NAME and DEFINITION for the worksheet.

You have created a new worksheet object, not simply a transient search worksheet.

Example

Sign in as Administrator and go to WORKSHEETS > New Worksheet and enter a NAME and DEFINITION.

You may always use the search to create a search worksheet, which you may then open as a complete worksheet.

Steps

  1. Enter text in the Search text box in the upper right.

  2. Click ENTER

Example

Enter "cust" in the Search text box in the upper right and press ENTER.

The current search worksheet selected in the pull-down to the left of the search text box in the upper right (in this case it is All Objects) forms the basis or scope of the search.

You may also select OBJECTS > Search to begin working on a worksheet where you have an empty results and may filter from there.

Open a Worksheet

To open a worksheet, there are three main methods:

Steps

  1. Sign in as a user with the Worksheet Customization capability global role assignment.

  2. Go to the WORKSHEETS menu. From here you may:

Explore Worksheets

Sign in as Administrator and go to WORKSHEETS > Manage.

Results Panel in a Worksheet

Whether editing a saved worksheet or simply working with a search result that is presented as a worksheet, this is the common environment for filtering and manipulating that worksheet.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed., or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > Favorites >,

    • WORKSHEETS > Recent >.

From here you may:

  • Page through the results using the first, previous, next and last controls above the results.

  • Expand the Filters panel on the left to add additional filters.

  • Expand the Details panel on the right to view details about the selected result line.

  • Click on the option icons:

  • Click Refresh to redisplay with all the latest filters and configuration details

  • Click Download as CSV to produce a CSV file of the results reflecting the filters, columns, sort order and other configuration details.

  • Click Configure Columns to add/remove heading columns from the worksheet.

  • Click Configure Sort to specify sort order by columns.

  • Click Display Options for the worksheet, including:

    • ITEMS PER PAGE to control the number of results per page in the UI

    • DISPAY MODE to toggle between the List mode (with name and definition) and Grid mode (allowing multiple header columns and sort order by column)

    • DETAILS PANEL to toggle between showing only the equivalent of the Overview tab of the object page or Full to show the entire object page for the selection in the Details panel (on the right).

    • SHOW CURRENT QUERY to toggle the display of the filter MQL display

    • ENABLE WORD WRAP to toggle the display of multiple lines per result item in Grid model.

These worksheet preferences are stored in the worksheet itself. Thus, when you save, share, or capture a URL of a worksheet or use it in a dashboard, etc., it maintains these preferences until updated.

There is currently no REST API method to download a worksheet to a CSV file. This limitation is because the methods to execute a query, e.g. "/entities/executeMQLQuery", already exist in the REST API producing a JSON output of what would be contained in an equivalent worksheet.

Editing cells

If you have sufficient permission, you may edit cells in the metadata results. To do this, either double-click that cell or right-click and select Edit. You may then use the Tab and Enter keys to traverse the grid for editing further.

Curating rows

You may click the Certify, Endorse and/or Warn icons for any row.

Bulk Editing

Multi-select: You may select more than one row (Shift-click, Ctrl-click, etc.). With this feature one may apply an action to all of the selected rows. Only those actions available to ALL of the selected rows will be presented.

For all the selected objects, you may bulk edit:

  • Common Attributes that apply to all object types, including curation

  • Custom attributes available to all the objects

  • Basic Object Attributes that apply to all the objects.

You may also add multi-selections to a collection

Special Bulk Edit Example

Responsibilities

You may edit the object role responsibility assignments for multiple items in a worksheet. To do so, select multiple items and right-click one and select Edit Responsibilities.

Bulk editing of stewardship is handled this way as stewardship is assigned via assignment of the Steward object role. In addition, in earlier versions of the production, stewards were the ones notified of changes to model. This is no longer the case. Instead, watchers are notified of changes to models when enabled. The migration from stewards to watchers is performed automatically on upgrade from previous versions and thus all stewards become watchers.

Click ADD ROLE and select Steward as the role to add.

As you are editing multiple objects and multiple responsibilities, any changes you make will apply identically to ALL the objects. However, you may control whether the new role assignment replaces, extends for removes a current role assignment.

We want to simply assign the Steward role to Stu in addition to (adding) whatever other assignments are there, so click Add.

Click EDIT and select Stu (Stewart Steward).

Click OK.

and again click OK to commit all changes.

Now, Stu is assigned the object role of Steward to all the selected objects.

Specify Columns

You may control the heading columns displayed in the Grid view of a worksheet.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by: Select the worksheet to use from the pick lists:

    • Favorites

    • Recent

    • Personal

    • Shared with me

  2. Click Configure Columns.

  3. Pick columns to display

You may sort by any number of columns. Click OK.

Example

Open a the Non Certified Critical Attribute Terms worksheet and click Configure Columns.

Pick columns to display

Click OK.

Specify Sort Direction

You may also sort the results by these heading columns.

Specify Heading Columns to Include in a Worksheet

Click the Configure Columns icon to add/remove columns from the worksheet

Select the columns you wish to add from the available columns side and click the Add selected column(s) icon.

Select the columns you wish to remove from the Select columns side and click the Remove selected column(s) icon.

Remove all the selected columns with the << icon.

Any of the filter criteria may also be selected as column values.

Specify Sort Order of Heading Columns in a Worksheet

You may specify the sort order of the worksheet results.

Sorting in this manner applies to all the results of the search, not just the page you are viewing. These are the only criteria where you may sort the entire result set, rather than just sorting the page as the column sorting options only apply to the current page in the user interface.

In addition, the column included in this ORDER BY option will be remembered when saving or sharing the worksheet or when send the URL to others.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by: Select the worksheet to use from the pick lists:

    • Favorites

    • Recent

    • Personal

    • Shared with me

  2. Click Configure Sort.

  3. Pick columns to sort by

    You may sort by any number of columns. Some columns are not indexed and thus cannot be sorted on. These will not be selectable and the UI will warn that the column may not be sorted.

  4. Specify Ascending or Descending.

  5. Click OK.

Example

Go to any worksheet. Click Configure Sort and select the ObjectType column in Sort By columns

Click OK.

There is a downward pointing arrow in the column header for ObjectType, show the sort order.

The sort order applies to the complete set of results, in this case, 7543 results, not only to the first 5o displayed.

Some columns are not sortable. These are documented in the Developer's Guide as it is a fundamental feature of Metadata Query Language (MQL). If a column does not support sort the UI will provide a temporary dialog to that effect.

A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Again, click Configure Sort and select the Name column in Sort By columns and specify Descending.

Click OK.

There are now two arrows, the upward pointing arrow (Ascending) on the Name and the downward pointing arrow (Descending) next to Object Type. Note, the number, showin the sort order.

Column Header Sort

You may simply click on a column header to toggle the sort on that column between ascending and descending and relevance order.

Grid vs. List Mode

One may toggle between presenting the results as a simple collection or as a spreadsheet-like grid. MetaKarta provides a rich set of features to manage the columns in a grid and allows for editing of the cells just as with a spreadsheet.

Grid Mode

List Mode

Action Icons in Columns

Certain action icons (e.g., Open in third-party tool) may be included in worksheets as a column.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click Columns and add an action icon column

  3. Click outside the dialog box.

Example

Click WORKSHEETS > Qlik Sense > Apps and click Columns

Open in Tool and add to the Selected Columns and click outside the dialog box.

Click on Open and you are taken to Qlik Sense.

You must define the external Tools URL for this link to Qlik Sense to work properly.

Paginated Display and Navigation

If the list of objects is long, only a portion of that list is presented. This portion is referred to as a Page. MetaKarta provides a number of common display and navigation tools for these lists.

Identify distinct values by column

You may quickly obtain a list of the distinct values available in the metadata. To do this, right-click a cell in the grid and select that option.

Example

Filter on the Dataset objects Category. Switch to Grid mode. Right-click on the Object Type column and select Distinct Values.

The result is statistics on the distinct values present according to the filters defined:

Show Execution History

You can see a history of the queries executed as part of updates to filtering, etc., in a worksheet.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet (search or otherwise).

  2. In the Results panel click Preferences > SHOW CURRENT QUERY

  3. Click the Show execution history icon.

Example

Worksheet Results Preferences

Steps

  1. Click Display Options for the worksheet, including:

    • ITEMS PER PAGE to control the number of results per page in the UI

    • DISPAY MODE to toggle between the List mode (with name and definition) and Grid mode (allowing multiple header columns and sort order by column)

    • DETAILS PANEL to toggle between showing only the equivalent of the Overview tab of the object page or Full to show the entire object page for the selection in the Details panel (on the right).

    • SHOW CURRENT QUERY to toggle the display of the filter MQL display

    • ENABLE WORD WRAP to toggle the display of multiple lines per result item in Grid model.

These worksheet preferences are stored in the worksheet itself. Thus, when you save, share, or capture a URL of a worksheet or use it in a dashboard, etc., it maintains these preferences until updated.

You may specify larger limits on the number of items per page and items to export by updating the Worksheet Export Maximum number of objects and Worksheet Maximum number of objects per Page in Group Preferences for a group that the user is a member of.

Metadata Filtering in a Worksheet

A filter panel can be presented to the left of the results. MetaKarta provides a sophisticated set of post filtering options.

You may filter to only those results which have specific values in specific properties.

Filter Preferences

You may specify filter Preferences including:

  • Apply Filters Automatically -- When checked, if you update or define a new filter, the results are updated automatically. Otherwise, the an APPY button appears in the UI and you must click this button to update the results.**

  • Ignore Connection Objects -- not show objects which are part of connection definitions, such as ETL sources and targets, or BI sources. These are not a part of the actual data store models (databases, files, etc.) and are often not important for data analysis.

Ignore Connection Objects only removes from the search results those matching objects which are actually contained inside connection models. Simply because the word "connection" is in the object type name does not mean they are a part of the connection models. E.g., objects of type, connectioncolumn are not removed from the search results.

Apply Filters Automatically or Manually

Depending upon the worksheet Apply Filters Automatically preferences settings, worksheets will either:

  • Apply Filters Automatically is checked -- Every action, such as to update the filter, add a column set preferences, etc., will cause the worksheet to re-run the query

  • Apply Filters Automatically is un-checked -- You must click the APPLY button (which is only available in this mode) to re-run the query. The button is highlighted when a refresh of the query would produce new results.

Depending upon how your group preferences are configured, you may not be able to adjust the Apply Filters Automatically.

Ignore Connection Objects

If Ignore connection Objects is checked -- Do not include objects which are part of a connection definition (used for stitching), e.g., in BI or DI tools.

This is a very valuable option for nearly all users and is checked by default. Connection objects are often just repeats of the objects in data stores (which they are connected to after stitching), so this option removes a large number of redundant results.

Validate Filter

Select this entry to validate the current filter for MQL syntax validity.

Filter by example by column

You may always filter the results by what is already presented. E.g., if one wishes to only see columns for Type View Column, you may simply right-click a cell in the grid that contains that value and select that option.

Using the Filter Panel

You may also expand the Filters panel on the left in order to limit the results based upon advanced matching criteria.

Common Filter Criteria
Filter Criteria Description
COMMON ATTRIBUTES
Certified Filter by certification status.
Certified by Only those results certified and/or certified by a particular individual or set of individuals.
Collections Filter by collection membership.
Comment Count Only those results commented according to a particular count.
Commented By The list of users who commented on the object.
Created By The user who created an object of authored content including custom model objects (e.g.glossary terms). Note that this attribute does not apply to imported model objects.
Created Date For Imported Objects: Created date in the source system for some models. (not all bridges will have this information.)
For Custom Model Objects: The time the object was created. If an object was restored (from repository backup) it will not have a created date as the history is never backed up and thus not restored.
Data ClassificationsData Classifications ApprovedData Classifications MatchedData Classifications Rejected Filter by data classes associated with the results.
Data Quality Latest Date Most recent date the data quality of the object was imported.
Data Quality Latest Score Most recent score of the data quality of the object.
Data Quality Latest Status Most recent status of the data quality of the object.
Documentation Documentation of the object.
Endorsed by Only those results endorsed and/or endorsed by a particular individual or set of individuals.
Endorsement Count Only those results endorsed according to a particular count.
Has Data Impact Filter by existence of objects in the data impact trace.
Has Data Lineage Filter by existence of objects in the data lineage (source) trace.
Has Semantic Definition Filter by existence of objects in the semantic definition trace.
Has Semantic Usage Filter by existence of objects in the semantic usage trace.
Import Bridge The name of the bridge used to import the object, e.g.. Microsoft Azure Power BI Service Repository.
Imported Date For Imported Objects: The last time the object was imported (possibly after incremental harvesting), which might be newer than the Updated Date. This date is critical to assess the freshness / accuracy of the Updated Dates, when the import is manual, or on a slow pace weekly / monthly schedule.For Custom Model Objects: Not Applicable.
Inferred Documentation Inferred documentation of the object which has been inferred from semantic flow analysis.
Labels Only those results tagged by particular labels.
Mapped Documentation Mapped documentation of the object.
Mentioned Objects LisLList of objects that are mentioned by the object.
Mentioned Users List of users / groups that are mentioned by the object.
Model Model that the object is in.
Modified Date For Imported Objects: Modified date in the source system for some models. (not all bridges will have this information.) Snowflake is an example of a bridge which supports this feature. For Custom Model Objects: Not Applicable.
My Workflow Tasks The list of workflow actions that can be performed by the current user on the object. This attribute only applies to models where workflow has been enabled. See the available workflow actions.
Object Id The internal object ID.
Object Image Image that has been associated with the object.
Object Profile Object profile used.
Object Stable Id Public id for the object that is independent of which version(s) contain it.
Object System Type Filter by the internal system type of object.
Object Type The display type of the object.
Parent.Name Filter by the name of parent object, e.g., all tables in the “dbo” schema.
Parent Object Type Filter by the type of parent object, e.g., all objects in a schema.
Sensitivity Label Filter by the current sensitivity label association.
Sensitivity Label Approved Filter by the current sensitivity label if approved.
Sensitivity Label Lineage Proposed Sensitivity label inferred from other objects using data flow analysis.
Sensitivity Label Data Proposed Sensitivity label detected during the data classification process and thus associated with this object.
Sensitivity Label Rejected Filter by the current rejected sensitivity labels, including all labels which were rejected and will not be assigned automatically as a part of data classification.
Search Text Text to match against. One may select which properties (e.g., name vs. description) to match against.
Updated by The user who last updated an object of authored content, including custom model objects (e.g.glossary terms).
Updated Date The date when an object of authored content was last updated, including custom model objects (e.g.glossary terms). Or for imported objects, it is the last date the repository object was updated, not the last date the object was updated in the source system.
Viewed Date The last time the current user visited the object page of the object.
Warned by Only those results warned and/or warned by a particular individual or set of individuals.
Warning Count Only those results warned according to a particular count.
Watchers Filter by users assigned as watchers for the object.
Workflow Assignees Identifies which users can perform the next step of the workflow. This attribute is applicable only to models where workflow has been enabled. See the available workflow actions.
Workflow Deprecation Required Filter by the status Workflow Deprecation Required, indicating that this object is to be deprecated.
Workflow Published Filter by the status Workflow Deprecation Required, indicating that this object is to be deprecated.
Workflow State The current state which the object is in (Draft, Under Review, Published, etc.). This attribute only applies to models where workflow has been enabled.
Additional Criteria Groupings
DATA PROFILING Filter by various data profiling attributes.
OBJECT ATTRIBUTES Filter by the attributes of the objects filtered by category, including custom attributes.
OBJECT RELATIONSHIPS Filter by the relationships of the objects.
OBJECT ROLES Filter by responsibility assignment, including Steward.

For each relationship attribute, the UI will propose a Count version of it:

Filtering is supported on the count attributes, but not sorting.

Use +FILTER to add addition filter criteria, criteria, click the X next to a specific filter to clear that one, or double-click on the name of the filter to clear it.

You may always filter the results by what is already presented. E.g., if one wishes to only see columns for Object Type of View Column, you may simply right-click a cell in the grid that contains that value and select that option.

Special Columns Which May Not be Used in Filters

These are documented in the Developer's Guide as it is a fundamental feature of Metadata Query Language (MQL). Obviously, they will not appear in the list of possible filters as a result of the +FILTER button.

Remove a Filter Criteria from the Worksheet

Click the X that appears in the upper right corner of the criterion in the Filter panel.

Define the Order of the Filter Criteria

To change the order of a particular filter criterion click on the Configure icon that appears in the upper right corner of the criterion in the Filter panel and select Move Up or Move Down.

Filter by Numeric Attributes

Filtering criteria may be based upon the <, <=, >, >= or BETWEEN (Note: NOT is not supported) operators on all numeric data profiling filters and all integer attribute types.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click +FILTER and add a numeric column.

  3. Specify the criteria, <, <=, >, >= or BETWEEN

  4. Click outside the dialog box.

Example

Create a worksheet (search) for Fields in Files.

Click +FILTER and select Data Profiling Distinct, specify less than and specify 6.

Filter by Search Text

You may enter text to filter by, and the text will be matched to the properties specified, as follows.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click the Search Text and enter the search text.

  3. Optionally, specify Search Options, including

    • What attributes to search within for the text

    • Include Semantic Search

    • Obtain Help on the search

  4. Click outside the dialog box.

Example

Open a worksheet by clicking the Search box in the upper right corner, entering "Invoice" and pressing ENTER. Click Search Options

The semantic search language is defined here.

Filter by Category

You may specify from a hierarchical pick list which object types to include in the results. Thus, you may include, e.g., both Terms and Database Columns in the search results.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click the pull-down under CATEGORY and check the box for one or more categories of object types.

  3. Click outside the dialog box.

Example

Create a worksheet and click the pull-down under CATEGORY and check the box for Fields in Files.

More Information

The list of categories includes:

  • System Objects -- E.g., Worksheets, Dashboards, Collections, Groups, Users

  • Import Model types -- E.g., File, Database, Data Modeling, Tableau, Informatica PowerCenter, etc.

Dataset is a special category that includes all the different types of data set categories, like Database, File, JSON Database, Data Modeling, etc., so that one may refer to Data Attributes generically, and not have to specify all the types of attributes.

  • Custom Models and Objects -- e.g., Glossaries, Data Mappings, Business Rules, etc.

Filter by Model

Use this filter to restrict the results to only those which are contained within particular models (e.g., a specific imported model or glossary).

In addition, if there is a directory structure in a model (e.g., a database import containing multiple schemas or a repository import containing directory structure, models, connections, etc.) then one may also use checkboxes to filter the results.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click +FILTER and select Model.

  3. Click in the dropdown box and select one or more models in which the results will be included.

  4. Click outside the dialog box.

Example

Create a worksheet and filter on the text "Invoice". Then, click +FILTER and select Model.

The faceted search is intelligent first suggesting the models with the largest number of matching potential results. The number of these results is displayed next to the Model.

Click SHOW MORE.

Now, the list is complete (up to 100 items).

Filter by Updated Date and Updated By

Filter to only those results which have an Updated Date value in a specific date range.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click +FILTER and select Updated Date.

  3. Click on the filter condition, including:

    • equals

    • not equals

    • today

    • yesterday

    • last hour

    • last 7 days

    • last 60 days

    • last 90 days

    • last year

    • before

    • after

    • between

  4. Specify a value for the condition.

  5. Click outside the dialog box.

Example

Create a worksheet and filter on the text "Invoice". Then, click +FILTER and select Updated Date.

There are several date type fields, all work the same way in worksheets.

Click the filter Condition (equals by default).

Select last 7 days.

The results are empty if you have not updated in the last 7 days any of the items that would be hit by the other Filter criteria. In this case the search text "Invoice".

Dates in Worksheets

See Dates in the Product.

Filter by Object Roles

Filter by Object Role responsibility assignment (to users or groups), including Steward. Results then then include all the matching objects which have the particular responsibility assignment specified in the Filter.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click +FILTER and scroll down to the OBJECT ROLES section.

  3. Select a specific role.

  4. Click on the filter condition, including:

    • equals

    • not equals

    • equals any

    • not equals any

    • equals all

    • not equals all

    • exists

    • not exists

  5. Specify a value for the condition.

  6. Click in the dropdown box and select one or more users and/or groups that the object role is assigned to.

  7. Click outside the dialog box.

Example

Create a worksheet and filter on the text "Invoice". Then, click +FILTER and select Data User.

Select exists as the filter condition.

The results are mostly objects contained within a model that is assigned as Data User to any user or group.

E.g., click the model Staging DW in which the first result (Invoice) is located.

Go to the Responsibilities tab.

This model is indeed assigned the Data User object role to Arif Anar and thus all its contained objects (like Invoice) are included in the results that match the other search filters (namely, Search Text "Invoice").

Filter by Stewardship

In order to filter by stewardship, you must filter by object roles based upon responsibility assignment.

Stewardship is based upon responsibility assignment of the Steward object role. Thus, to see all the objects with stewardship assignment for a user, select Steward object role and pick the user you want.

Filter by Label

Filter to only those results which have one of the selected labels assigned.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click +FILTER and select Label.

  3. Select one or more LABLES or All.

Example

Create a worksheet and filter on the text "Invoice". Then, click +FILTER and select Label.

There are several types of labels in the system. In particular, you may filter by Sensitivity Label and Conditional Labels. Conditional labels work just like labels in terms of filtering.

The faceted search is intelligent first suggesting the models with the largest number of matching potential results. The number of these results is displayed next to the Model.

Click QuarterlyReview in the faceted search filter and only three items are displayed.

Filter by Curation Status

You may endorse, certify, warn and comment on any object.

You may then filter to only those results which have any of these or any of these from a specific set of individuals.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click +FILTER and scroll down to Certified.

    You may also filter by Certified by, Warned by, Endorsed by or Commented by in order to Filter on the person who made the curation action.

    You may also filter by Warning Count, Endorsement Count or Comment Count in order to Filter on the number of those curations notations made.

  3. Click on the filter condition, including:

    • equals

    • not equals

  4. Specify a value for the condition.

Example

Create a worksheet and filter on the text "Customer". Then, click +FILTER and select Certified.

Select equals as the filter condition.

Select True for the value of the condition.

Filter by Lineage Status

Object in a configuration may have (or may not have) data flow and/or semantic lineage. You may then filter to only those results which have any of these or do not have lineage of a particular type.

You may use any of the four filter criteria:

Filter Criteria Description
Has Data Impact Filter by existence of objects in the data impact trace
Has Data Lineage Filter by existence of objects in the data lineage (source) trace
Has Semantic Definition Filter by existence of objects in the semantic definition trace
Has Semantic Usage Filter by existence of objects in the semantic usage trace

You may specify:

  • Exists -- Filters to all objects for which the filter can apply (classifier and feature level objects)

  • Not Exists - Filters to all objects for which the filter does not apply (classifier and feature level objects)

  • Equals (True/False) -- Filters to all objects which have or do not have the lineage.

Example

Search for "Invoice" to create a worksheet. Click +FILTER and select Has Data Impact.

Select equals and True for the condition. Also, it could be useful to add the Has Data Impact column.

Detection of Unused Data Elements in the Architecture

Asking the question the other way, i.e., what objects do not have data impact and are also in the data warehouse, will show you all the data elements which are not being used.

Click +FILTER and select Has Data Impact.

Select Equals and False for the condition.

Use the Model filter to only search Staging DW.dbo.

Also, it could be useful to add the Has Data Impact column.

Filter by Sensitivity Label

You may filter by the data classifications which are associated (tagged) on an object. These filters include:

  • Sensitivity Label -- The current sensitivity label associated with the object

  • Sensitivity Label Approved -- The current approved (or manually assigned) sensitivity label associated with the object

  • Sensitivity Label Lineage Proposed -- inferred from other object using data flow analysis

  • Sensitivity Label Data Proposed -- detected during the data classification process

  • Sensitivity Label Rejected -- All labels which were rejected and will not be assigned automatically as a part of data classification.

Filter by Data Class

You may filter by the data classifications which are associated (tagged) on an object. These filters include:

  • Data Classifications -- Data classes associated with the object. The attribute shows both approved (or manually assigned) data classes as well as proposed ones.

  • Data Classifications Approved -- Data classes approved for (or manually assigned to) the object.

  • Data Classifications Matched -- Data classes detected during the data classification process and thus associated with the object.

  • Data Classifications Proposed -- Data Classes proposed during the data classification process but are not yet approved or rejected.

  • Data Classifications Rejected -- Data classes which were rejected for the object.

Filter by Data Profiling

All of the following data profiling result properties may be used as filters and as columns in a worksheet:

  • "Data Profiling"."Distinct"

  • "Data Profiling".Duplicate

  • "Data Profiling".Valid

  • "Data Profiling".Empty

  • "Data Profiling".Invalid

  • "Data Profiling".Min

  • "Data Profiling".Max

  • "Data Profiling".Mean

  • "Data Profiling".Variance

  • "Data Profiling".Median

  • "Data Profiling"."Lower Quantile"

  • "Data Profiling"."Upper Quantile"

  • "Data Profiling"."Avg Length"

  • "Data Profiling"."Min Length"

  • "Data Profiling"."Max Length"

  • "Data Profiling"."Inferred Data Types"

Filter by Collections

You may filter by which collections each object in the result is a member of.

You may specify multiple collections that the results may be a member of.

You may specify:

  • equals: If any of the collections contain an object it is included in the results (same as equals any)

  • not equals: If any of the collections contain an object it is not included in the results

  • equals any: If any of the collections contain an object it is included in the results (same as equals)

  • not equals any: If any of the collections contain an object it is not included in the results (same as not equals)

  • equals all: If any of the collections contain an object it is included in the results

  • not equals all: If any of the collections contain an object it is included in the results

  • exists: If any of the collections contain an object it is included in the results

  • not exists: If none of the collections contain an object it is included in the results

Filter by Comment

You may filter by the existence or content of comments just as you may do so for curations such as endorsement and warning.

Filter by Object Image

The object image is a single image which may be added to the object page Overview tab optionally.

The filter option is object image.

By default, it is not included in the presentation, so you much first add it to the presentation to see the option.

As this is not an indexed search, it will be slow. Please be sure to filter by category, model and any other criteria that will reduce the scope of the search.

Filter by Relationship

As we can see from the MANAGE > Metamodel page, there is an association between the two different models for business policies and business rules.

We populated these in the Custom Models section, with worksheet examples there.

Filter by Data Documentation/Cataloging

As an effective tool to:

  • Identify documented data elements

  • Identify those data elements which still require documentation

You may define a worksheet which shows term defined, locally defined, mapped and inferred documentation (i.e., Name and Business Definition) for an imported object, e.g., the Fields of a data lake.

Please see examples in the Data Documentation section, such as an inferred documentation worksheet.

Filter by Mentions

Two attributes may be used to filter on mentions in text fields:

  • Mentioned Objects LisLList of objects that are mentioned by the object

  • Mentioned Users List of users / groups that are mentioned by the object

Filter by Count Attributes

For each relationship attribute, the UI will propose a Count version of it:

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Filtering and column selection is supported on the count attributes, but not sorting.

Filter by Import Bridge

You may include Import Bridge as a result column which shows the name of the bridge used to import the object, e.g.. Microsoft Azure Power BI Service Repository)).

You may also filter on Import Bridge.

Filter by System Objects

As you may now include "system" objects, including:

  • Worksheets

  • Dashboards

  • Collections

  • Groups

  • Users

in your worksheet searches, you may filter a worksheet by these objects. The objects may now be included in the Metadata Query Language (MQL) query.

Example

Open a new worksheet and under CATEGORY > System > Groups.

Metadata Query Language and Query Filters

MQL allows users to define powerful and complex metadata queries with a familiar SQL syntax.

The MQL is available through the REST API and constitutes the foundation of the search / worksheet page. For syntax details, refer to the Developer Guide.

You may use the worksheet Preferences to toggle showing or hiding the metadata query language (MQL) query.

Anything you do in the Filters is reflected in the MQL. You may also edit the Filters from the perspective of the MQL directly by using the Advanced model.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >

  2. In the Results panel, click Preferences > SHOW CURRENT QUERY in the worksheet Preferences.

  3. Click +FILTER and +QUERY to add MQL directly as additional filters.

You may add any number of query filters. You may toggle them on and off. They become a saved part of any worksheet you save.

Example

Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage > Certified Terms.

Click SHOW CURRENT QUERY in the Worksheet results preferences.

Click +FILTER and +QUERY.

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Click EDIT under the MQL FILTER, and build the query for Comment Count greater than or equal to 1.

Click OK.

Name the filter "Highly Commented".

You now have a quick filter that you may enable or disable with the switch control.

If you wish to maintain a quick filter, you should save it as a part of a worksheet.

Filter Group

By default, filters are applied with an implicit AND between then. Thus, if you have specified CATERGORY of Glossary > Term along with CERTIFIED BY of EXISTS, then the result will be:

All results which are:

  • Terms

AND

  • The CERTIFIED BY flag EXISTS.

You may change this behavior for a group of filters and specify that they are joined by an OR instead of AND.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet

  2. In the Results panel, click Preferences > SHOW CURRENT QUERY in the worksheet Preferences.

  3. Click +FILTER and +Group to specify the behavior of the group

You may add any number of filters to a group after it is created.

You may toggle them on and off. They become a saved part of any worksheet you save.

Example

Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage > Certified Terms.

Click SHOW CURRENT QUERY in the Worksheet results preferences.

Click +FILTER and click +GROUP.

Set the properties as above and click OK.

Now, you may add filters that will be joined via OR to your set of filters for this worksheet by clicking the plus sing next to the name of the group.

Filter Order

Filters are applied in order from top to bottom in the Filters panel. You may control the order in which filters are applied by clicking on the Configure icon to the right of the filter title in the panel and selecting Move Up or Move Down.

Advanced Filter Model

By default, a filter is presented as a simplified set of facets (possible selections for the filter). E.g., for filtering by Model (in the configuration), we have a pick list of the different models which contain a matching object:

However, one my have more flexibility in the type of options to apply to the filter by clicking ADVANCED, which appears to the right of the filter title.

Then more options are presented, such as the:

  • Filter operand

  • Checkboxes and a tree structure to multi-select the facets you want

You may always switch back to the simplified faceted search by clicking BASIC to the right of the filter title.

Configuration filter Options

By default, a filter is presented as a simplified set of facets (possible selections for the filter). E.g., for filtering by Model (in the configuration), we have a pick list of the different models which contain a matching object:

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However, one my have more flexibility in the type of options to apply to the filter by clicking the Configure icon, which appears to the right of the filter title.

You now are presented with the Configure Filter dialog.

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You may specify the DISPLAY TYPE, including:

  • Single Selection List (default) -- simple list of facets with single click selection

  • Multi Selection List -- checkbox enable multi selection list of facets

  • Advanced -- See ADVANCED.

Details Panel

There is a Details Panel on the right. If you show this panel then you may click on an object and view its properties in the panel. It is presented much like the Overview tab in the object page or details page and may be customized when the Overview tab is customized.

Each time you select an item in the Results panel, the Details panel will be updated for that object.

You may also use the Options menu to perform the following (just as with the full object page):

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In addition, you may specify Results Preferences > DETAILS PANEL > Full to see the entire object page, not just the Overview tab.

This feature provides you with:

  • A URL link, which you may provide to others, that will take you immediately to this same worksheet with the same customizations/filters/columns, etc., you have done.

  • A SELECT statement in a JSON request compatible with the REST API .

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >

  2. Click More options in the upper right and select Get Sharable Link.

  3. Click COPY next to any of the results to copy the specific one to the clipboard.

Example

Go to WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES > Certified Terms.

Click More options in the upper right and select Get Sharable Link.

MQL cannot include the sort order on columns. In fact, the sorting by column in a worksheet is performed entirely by the UI, and thus is not recorded in the shareable link or the REST API request.

Manage Worksheets

You may also select WORKSHEETS > Manage to manage your existing worksheets.

Steps

1.Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage.

  • You see the list of Favorites. It is the default tab.

All the worksheets you have favorited are here.

2.Click the My tab.

All the worksheets you have created are here.

  • From here you may:

    • Open/Edit the worksheet

    • Restrict the list by using the Search Text

    • Create a new saved worksheet

    • Delete and existing saved worksheet

    • Favorite or un-Favorite a worksheet

    • Set Viewers and Editors for this worksheet with groups and/or users

    • Edit the Name or Description of a worksheet

    • Assign a worksheet to one or more (or all) Configurations

3.Click the Recent Tab.

All the worksheets you have recently opened are here.

  • From here you may:

    • Open/Edit the worksheet

    • Restrict the list by using the Search Text

    • Favorite or un-Favorite a worksheet

Example

Save a Worksheet

You may save any worksheet you are working on at any time, evening existing saved ones by be saved as new worksheets.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet by any of the create methods detailed, or go to

    • WORKSHEETS > Manage,

    • WORKSHEETS > RECENT >,

    • WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES >.

  2. Click SAVE > Save to save the updated state of an existing saved worksheet or save and assign a name to a not yet saved worksheet.

  3. Click SAVE > Save As to save the updated state of an existing saved worksheet and assign a name.

Example

Click WORKSHEETS > FAVORITES > Certified Terms.

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Click +FILTER > Model. Include the Finance glossary.

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The Finance glossary is the only choice as the Enterprise glossary does not contain any certified terms.

The Save button is enabled as the filter has changed.

Click Save. You have now have updated an existing worksheet.

Click SAVE > Save As....

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Enter the name "Recently Certified Terms" and click OK.

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MQL cannot include the sort order on columns. In fact, the sorting by column in a worksheet is performed entirely by the UI, and thus is not in the results.

Create a Worksheet

Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage.

Click the My tab.

Click Create.

Enter the name "New Worksheet" and press Enter.

You will then have a worksheet saved but with no filters defined yet.

Delete a Worksheet

Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage.

Click the My tab.

Click Delete.

Click YES to Confirm.

Favorite / Un-Favorite a Worksheet

Go to Worksheets > Manage.

Click the My tab.

Click Favorite next to New Worksheet to favorite that worksheet.

Click Favorite next to What's new to un-favorite that worksheet

Multi-Select in MANAGE Worksheets

You may perform all the MANAGE > Worksheet functions on multiple worksheets in the grid by multi-selecting. The Show actions control is then presented in the grid header with the number selected.

Shared Worksheet

Worksheets have an owner who is the creator of the worksheet. That owner may open, edit, or remove a worksheet. The worksheets that one owns may always be found in the My tab under WORKSHEETS > Manage.

In addition, a worksheet may be shared, with specific users and/or groups. One may share the worksheet as

  • Viewer able to see and query with the worksheet, as well as save it as a new worksheet and edit it.

  • Editor can edit the worksheet name and content. Only the owner can change the sharing options and delete the object.

Once shared, users that are in the sharing criteria specified may view and favorite those worksheets, as well.

Steps

  1. Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage.

  2. Go to the My tab.

  3. Double-click in the Viewers or Editors cell for the row containing the worksheet.

  4. Pick users or groups to assign the sharing role.

Default Shared Search Worksheets

By default there are four default shard search worksheets:

  • All Objects

  • Data Inventory -- Dataset object

  • Report Inventory -- Reporting tool objects

  • Vocabulary -- Glossary terms.

If we then sign in as Bob we will see the list of current search worksheets to be:

Assign a Worksheet to a Configuration

When you assign a worksheet to one or more configurations, the worksheet will only appear in those configurations for all by the WORKSHEETS > Manage screens, e.g., the WORKSHEETS > Explore menu.

By default, a worksheet is available to all configurations. Once a worksheet assignment is made, then those configurations are the only ones assigned.

If a configuration is deleted, then the assignments to it are removed.

When only one configuration is assigned, on deletion, the assignment reverts to All.

Steps

  1. Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage.

  2. Go to the My tab.

  3. Double-click the Configurations cell for the row containing the worksheet.

  4. Pick one or more configurations to assign the worksheet to.

  5. To assign a worksheet to all configurations, simply remove the specific (or all) specific configuration assignments.

Example

Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage and go to the My tab double-click on the Configurations cell for New Worksheet.

Select the Configuration and click OK.

Now, go to the WORKSHEETS > Explore and note the New Worksheet is not in the FAVORITES list.

But, if you switch configurations to that one, you will see the New Worksheet.

Sharing a Worksheet

The owner (creator) of a worksheet may share that worksheet with and users and/or groups.

Steps

  1. Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage.

  2. Go to the My tab.

  3. Select a worksheet.

  4. Click Share.

  5. Pick one or more users and/or groups to share the worksheet with.

  6. To un-share a worksheet, simply remove the specific (or all) users and/or groups.

Example

Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage. Click the My tab. Click the line for New Worksheet.

Double-click in the Viewers cell and pick the user Bob to assign the sharing role.

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Log out and log in as Bob.

Go to WORKSHEETS > Manage. Click the Shared with Me tab. Click Search. Locate the New Worksheet collection. Click Favorite next to that worksheet.

Now, go to the Favorites tab and see this worksheet as Bob.

You cannot add to this worksheet as Bob because Bob does not own it.

Click on the worksheet name and then click Save As and enter the name "Bob's Worksheet" and Click OK.

You may now edit the list. You could also share it back with Administrator.

You may save a shared worksheet before specifying whom to share it with. You may come back later and specify whom it will be shared with.

System Object Children Worksheets

The object page for different types of objects (e.g., Tables or Schemas) contains a number of tabs which present the results of a system object children worksheet for that particular type of object represented by the tab (e.g., Columns for Tables or Tables for Schemas).

When viewing the object page results, say the Columns tab for a Table, you may designate an existing worksheet that you saved or that was shared with you as your personal default.

In addition, users with the Application Administrator capability global role assignment may designate system object children worksheets for groups or users, which will be the system default, unless over-ridden, when one the object page for that type of object.

However, it would be awkward to require that one go to each type of object page and tab in order to manage defaults. Thus, you may manage all of your defaults in MANAGE > System Object Children Worksheets.

System defaults are not shown on this page as you cannot edit them. It requires an Administrator to do so.

Steps

  1. Go to MANAGE > System Object Children Worksheets.

  2. Click any item in the list and you may.

    • Click the Name or right-click and select Rename and type a new name.

    • Click Delete or right-click and select Delete to delete.

Example

Go to the object page for the Terminology term of the Finance glossary and go to the Contains tab.

Click Columns and switch to Grid mode and include Term Data Type as a column.

Click the background to remove the dialog.

Click SAVE AS and create a system type worksheet with the below settings.

It is a System type worksheet, so it may be shared as a default for others. Also, it is already shared with Bob (Robert Robinson).

Now this default worksheet is in the MANAGE > System Object Children Worksheets and those users will see it by default.

Download the Worksheet Results

You may download the results of a worksheet using the Download button.

You must have at least the Metadata Import / Export capability object role assignment on the model(s) that are included in the results.

Steps

  1. Open a worksheet.

  2. Click the Download icon.

Example

Sign in as Administrator and go to a worksheet.

Click the Download icon.

There is currently no REST API method to download a worksheet to a CSV file. This limitation is because the methods to execute a query, e.g. "/entities/executeMQLQuery", already exist in the REST API producing a JSON output of what would be contained in an equivalent worksheet.

You may download either CSV files or XLSX files. The XLSX file have special handling which safeguards against CSV Injection, also known as Formula Injection, which is a security vulnerability that occurs when untrusted input is included in a CSV file.