A workflow can contain a Relationship Change activity which allows you to add, modify or remove relationships based on workflow Form values from a previous activity.
Relationships between assets help to define the bigger picture of your business glossary by showing how assets are connected. This is useful for understanding dependencies, data lineage, and the overall structure of your data governance framework.
Before you can establish relationships, you need to create a Relationship Type that connects two asset types. For more information, see Configure relationship types.
Once you have configured a Relationship Type, you can create relationships manually, or you can build a workflow that uses the Relationship Change activity to create or update relationships. For every relationship change you want to make, you must use a separate Relationship Change activity.
The Relationship Change activity has these properties:
- Change Type: Add, replace or remove relationships from an asset. Choose from:
- Create a relationship
- Remove a relationship
- Modify a relationship: Applies if there are fields on the Relationship Type.
- Relationship Type: A Relationship Type must already be defined before you create your workflow. Choose from:
- From field: Select a field that will contain the Relationship Type value. This applies if there is a preceding Form activity that contains a Relationship Type field.
- By type: Select from the Relationship Types that have been configured for the asset type that is referenced on the Start activity. The workflow is based on the asset type that is referenced on the Start activity.
- Remove existing relationships?: Applies when Create a relationship is selected. The behavior depends on the relationship cardinality. For example, if the cardinality is One to Many and a relationship is already configured, the existing relationship will be removed.
The subject of the relationship is defined by the asset type on which the workflow is based. The object of the relationship is defined by the relationship type selected in the Relationship Change activity.
Example
There are two Business Asset types:
- Business Asset > Business Term: Each Business Term asset contains the contact information for a customer.
- Business Asset > Primary Domain: Every Business Term asset is owned by a Primary Domain, for example, Membership, Insurance, Accounts.
A Relationship Type connects the two Business Asset types:
Business Asset: Primary Domain owns / is owned by Business Asset: Business Term
The cardinality of this Relationship Type is One to Many. This means that a Primary Domain can contain multiple Business Terms, but a Business Term can only belong to one Primary Domain.
A workflow is configured so that when a new Business Term asset is created, it is automatically related to a Primary Domain. The workflow has these activities:
- Start
- Form
- Relationship Change
- End
The Form activity has a List field with these properties:
- Field Type: List. The field name is changed to "Select a Domain".
- Allow Multiselect? No. The relationship cardinality is One to Many.
- Select List: The Primary Domain asset type is selected.
The List field is set as a Required Field and Email notification is on. This means that when a new Business Term asset is added, the Form assignee will receive an email with a link to the Form where they must select the appropriate Primary Domain to own the new Business Term.
- Change Type: Create a relationship
- Relationship Type: By Type > is owned by Business Asset: Primary Domain
- Subject: Form: Select a Domain
- Remove existing relationships? Yes
This means that a relationship will be created where the Primary Domain that is selected in the Form will be the subject of the relationship and the new Business Term asset will be the object of the relationship.