Last updated: Jul 04, 2023
An asset in a catalog contains information about data or data analysis.
The information about assets that is stored in a catalog includes:
- The type of asset
- Asset properties, such as the description, format, and classification
- The asset access to control who can access the asset
- A preview of the contents of some asset types
- A generated profile of the contents of some asset types
- Ratings and reviews of assets by catalog collaborators
- Activities of some asset types
Types of assets
You can add assets from these types of sources to a catalog:
- Files from your local system, including structured data, unstructured data, and images
- Connections to data sources. You can add connections to IBM or third-party data sources
- Data assets from a connection to a data source
- Data assets and COBOL copybooks that are imported from mainframes through the use of Data Virtualization Manager for z/OS
- Model use cases from the model inventory
For a full list of asset types, see Asset types and properties.
Asset properties
All asset types have a common set of properties. Some asset types have additional properties. See Asset properties and Adding assets to a catalog.
When you add an asset to a catalog or edit an existing asset, you specify these common properties:
- The asset name and an optional description. The asset name cannot be empty, contain Unicode control characters, or contain only blank spaces. You can include links in the description.
- Asset format. Automatically detected.
- Tags. Ungoverned metadata that makes searching for the asset easier. Tags can contain only spaces, letters, numbers, underscores, dashes, and the symbols # and @. Click
to add tags. - Data classes that are assigned to the asset and to columns in data assets.
- A classification for the data asset.
- Business terms that apply to the asset. You can also add business terms to columns in data assets.
- Relationships with other assets.
Asset access
You can control access to an asset on the Access page with the privacy level and asset membership:
- Privacy. You can choose whether to restrict access to the asset:
- Public: Default. No restrictions on finding or using the asset.
- Private: Only asset members can find or use the asset.
- Members. The catalog collaborators to add as members of the asset. Members are important if you restrict access to the asset.
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Parent topic: Catalogs