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How to create and manage glossary terms

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In Microsoft Purview, glossary terms provide a vocabulary for business users. These terms allow users to discover and work with data in the vocabulary that is more familiar to them, rather than using abstract technical jargon inherited from data sources.

Use business terms to define a shared vocabulary for your organization. By creating terms, identifying their synonyms, acronyms, related terms, and more, you can create a flexible controlled taxonomy organized in a hierarchical way. Glossaries of terms help bridge the communication gap between various departments in your company by providing consistent definitions for concepts, metrics, and other important elements across the organization.

This article describes how to manage glossary terms in Microsoft Purview. It provides steps to create a business glossary term in a governance domain. It also shows you how to link data product to your terms.

For more information about glossary terms in general, see our glossary terms concept page.

Prerequisites

Access glossary terms

  1. In the Microsoft Purview portal, open Unified Catalog and select the Catalog management drop-down.
  2. Select Governance domains.
  3. Select the governance domain you'd like to see glossary terms for.
  4. On the glossary terms card, select View all.
  5. You'll see a list of all the glossary terms for that governance domain.
  6. You can search or sort through these glossary terms, filter them, or change the view between a list, a compact list, or a tree.

Note

There may be multiple pages of terms. Toggle between these pages using the arrow buttons and the page selector.

Create glossary term

Note

To create a glossary term you need the steward role.

  1. In Unified Catalog, select Catalog management, then select Governance domains.
  2. Select the name governance domain you'd like to add a term to.
  3. On the Details tab for the domain, find the Glossary terms card and select View all.
  4. To create a single new term, select New term.
  5. Enter a name and a definition for your term.
  6. Select an owner, or several owners for the term.
  7. Optionally select an existing term within the same domain as a parent term.

    Note

    Parent/child relationships can be visualized in a tree-like hierarchy within the terms list page by selecting Tree in the views drop-down.

  8. Optionally add any related acronyms.
  9. Optionally add any related resources, like links to documentation or other sources that provide context for your term.
  10. Select Create.

Your term is created in a draft state, where only stewards and domain owners can see it. To make it visible to all users, you need to publish the term. You're taken to the details page for your new glossary term, where you can edit or manage your term, publish your term, or link the term to data products.

Publish

Once your term is ready to be used in your governance domain, you can publish your term by:

  1. Select the domain where your term resides.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the Publish button next to the Edit button.

Note

Ensure your governance domain is published before you publish your glossary terms.

Manage term policies

To manage term policies, you need data steward permissions.

  1. On your glossary term page, select Manage policies.
  2. From the policy configuration window, you're able to create and manage your term policies. For more information, see the documentation about managing access policies.

Add, remove, and view data product links all from within your glossary term.

  1. Select the governance domain where your term resides.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the Related tab.
  5. To link your term to a data product, select the + Add data product button.
  6. Search for the data product, or data products, you want to link and select them.
  7. To add your selected data products, select Add.

Tip

There may be multiple pages in your data product search results. Check the page selector to view all pages.

View linked data products

You can view all your linked data products from within your glossary term. The Related tab lists the first 10 linked data products. Select View all data products to see and search the entire list.

Remove linked data products

To remove a linked data product:

  1. Open the term where the data product is linked.
  2. Select the Related tab.
  3. Find the data product on the details page or select View all data products to search for it.
  4. Select the ellipsis button (...) next to the data product and select Remove link.

You can also link or remove glossary terms from the data product details page. For more information, see the data product documentation.

Related glossary terms from across all your governance domains can be added to a term to connect similar terms.

  1. Select the governance domain where your term resides.

  2. Select the Glossary terms button.

  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.

  4. Select the Related tab.

  5. To add a term, select the + Add term button, and choose whether to add the term as a synonym, or a related term.

    Note

    Terms from across governance domains can be linked.

  6. To remove a related term, select the X button next to the term.

You can link a glossary term to critical data elements across governance domains to provide better business context.

  1. Select the governance domain where your term resides.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the Related tab.
  5. To link your term to a critical data element, select the + Add critical data element button.
  6. Search for the critical data element, or critical data elements, you want to link and select them.
  7. To add your selected critical data elements, select Add.
  8. To remove a related critical data element, select the element, then select the ... ellipsis button, and then the Remove button.

Edit glossary term

  1. Select the domain where you'd like to edit one of the terms.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the Edit button to edit the name, definition, and owners.
  5. To update status, select the ellipsis button (...), and select the new desired status.

Expire glossary term

Expiring a glossary term will limit its visibility to stewards and governance domain owners.

  1. Select the governance domain you'd like to remove or retire a term from.
  2. Select the Glossary terms button.
  3. Search or browse for the glossary term and select it.
  4. Select the ... ellipsis button.
  5. Select Set to Expired.
  6. Select Save.

Delete glossary term

To delete a glossary term, you will need to first unpublish it and remove any links to related business concepts such as glossary terms, data products, and critical data elements. You can then select the Delete button and proceed with deleting the term.

Can you still access the classic business glossary?

Yes, you can access the classic business glossary.

  1. In the Microsoft Purview portal, open Unified Catalog.
  2. Select the Catalog management drop-down.
  3. Select Classic types.
  4. Select the Glossaries tab.