With Workflow

Enable the Workflow Process for a Custom model

By default, a glossary, like any custom model, will have no workflow requirement, thus there will be no formal review and approval process. Without workflow, all Metadata Viewing, Editing and Managementcapability object role assignments may be used to manage access and update.

Talend Data Catalog also provides a very flexible and complete set of possible workflow and publication processes that you may employ. When your organization would like to have a more formal custom model or glossary development process that involves multiple users with various reviewer/approver/publisher object roles you can enable the glossary workflow. The workflow is a prepackaged sequence of activities around object proposal, editing, review, acceptance, publishing and depreciation. It is a flexible process that can be customized to require only publishing activity, approval with or without review, approval and review by one or multiple users, etc.

You may see the functions with workflow defined below.

When you enable workflow Talend Data Catalog creates another version of the glossary named Published. The Published version is the one that is to be presented to most of the users. Its contents are not directly editable (with or without permission). Instead, one edits the Development version and then uses the Publish workflow step to change what is in the Published glossary.

The particular version (Published or Development) that user sees is entire system managed. Thus, you will have access to the

• Published version of the glossary if you do not have any Workflowcapability object role assignments, and you will not have any ability to edit the glossary or see current edits and workflow states. You will only see what was published.
• Development version of the glossary if you do not have any Workflowcapability object role assignments, and you will have the ability to see glossary object in their current workflow status

Please see more details here.

Steps

1. Sign in as a user with at least the Workflow Managementcapability object role assignmenton the glossary you are in.
2. Go to the MANAGE > Configuration in the banner and select the glossary.
3. Click the Workflow tab.
4. Check the Enable Workflow and Publishing checkbox and click YES to confirm.
5. Check the workflow entries you wish to specify. These include:
   • Allow any user to propose objects. Any user with the Metadata Viewercapability object role assignmenton the glossary may still Propose objects.
   • Allow approval of objects. The Pending Approval and Approved steps is included in the workflow. If so, then two other options are available:

• Allow review of objects. The Under Review step is included in the workflow.
• Publish on Approval. The separate step for publication is not include in the workflow and publication occurs on Approval.

6. Click Save.

Example

Sign in as Administrator, go to MANAGE > Configuration and create the glossary WorkflowExample Glossary.

Go to the Workflow tab and Check the Enable Workflow and Publishing checkbox.

Click YES.

Click SAVE.

Now, return to the Workflow tab.

Assign Workflow Responsibilities

A user with the Workflow Managementcapability object role assignmentcan enable the workflow and assign the following workflow object roles to glossary objects:

• Workflow Editor
• Workflow Reviewer
• Workflow Approver
• Workflow Publisher

Object roles may have one or more of these workflow capabilities, and these workflow object roles can be assigned as responsibilities which apply to all objects in a glossary (or other custom model).

Editor Workflow Object Role

The Editor is responsible for creating, revising and shepherding objects through the approval process. The Editor can import objects into the glossary from files or create them manually. These objects start in the Draft status. The workflow can allow any glossary user to propose an object. A proposed object starts in the Candidate status. The Editor can accept the object by promoting it to Draft or deleting it. The user who created the object can edit and delete it as long as it is Candidate.

When the approval activity is disabled, the Editor is solely responsible for the objects’ workflow. In this case, the Editor takes on the Publisher’s responsibilities and can publish objects when the Editor deems ready.

Reviewer Workflow Object Role

The Reviewer is a subject matter expert (SME) responsible for assessing and commenting on assets under development. The Reviewer can list assets assigned to him/her for the review and comment, endorse or dismiss them individually. Each of the assets offers the Reviewer the Comment, Recommend for Approval and Request Change buttons. Pressing the buttons allows the user to explain the decision with a comment.

The Request Change action sends the asset back to Draft. The Editor is responsible for implementing requested changes or providing clarifications and re-submitting the asset for review again. The review is an iterative activity.

Approver Workflow object role

The Approver is an accountable decision maker who is responsible for rejecting or approving new assets of changes to published assets. The Approve action advances the asset to the Approved status. The Reject action returns the asset to the Draft status.

The approval activity is a part of the workflow process by default. The Administrator can disable it by setting the Allow approval of objects flag to No.

Publisher Workflow object role

The Publisher is an accountable decision maker who is responsible for publishing assets. Talend Data Catalog provides a single configuration version view of the metadata. It is designed for reviewing the repository content by business users in the Published version.

When you enable workflow Talend Data Catalog creates another version of the glossary named Published. The Published version is the one that is to be presented to most of the users. Its contents are not directly editable (with or without permission). Instead, one edits the Development version and then uses the Publish workflow step to change what is in the Published glossary.

The particular version (Published or Development) that user sees is entire system managed. Thus, you will have access to the

• Published version of the glossary if you do not have any Workflowcapability object role assignments, and you will not have any ability to edit the glossary or see current edits and workflow states. You will only see what was published.
• Development version of the glossary if you do not have any Workflowcapability object role assignments, and you will have the ability to see glossary object in their current workflow status

Please see more details here.

When workflow is enabled you can still make multiple changes to different glossary objects and publish all changes at once or groups of changes at a time.

When the workflow is not enabled all changes made are immediately visible to all users. With proper permissions, you can change an object by editing its attributes (e.g. description) and adding/removing its relationships (e.g. contains).

Steps

1. Sign in as a user who has Workflow Managementcapability object role assignment for the glossary you wish to assign workflow object roles.
2. Navigate to the glossary.
3. Go to the Responsibilities tab.
4. Click ADD ROLE.
5. Select the object role to assign.
6. Select the users and groups to be assigned the responsibility.
7. Click OK.

Example

Sign in as Administrator and go to MANAGE > Configuration. Select the Workflow Example Glossary. Go to the Responsibilities tab.

Select Workflow Editor.

Select the Glossary Editors group.

Click OK. Then SAVE.

Now, also assign these responsibilities combinations to the same glossary:

• WORKFLOW REVIEWER <> Glossary Reviewers
• WORKGLOW APPROVER <> Glossary Approvers
• WORKFLOW PUBLISHER <> Glossary Publisher.

Add a new object with workflow

Adding a new object with workflow enabled is much like the process without workflow, except that there are review/approval/publishing steps to follow.

Steps

1. Sign in as a user which has EditorWorkflow object role assigned for one or more terms or the glossary itself.
2. Navigate to that object page of the glossary to place a object in the root, or to a parent you wish to place it under (contained by).

3. In the section for that object click the Create plus sigm.
4. Enter the Name of the new object.

5. Click OK.
6. After creating, you must move the object through the workflow before the results are visible in the Published configuration.

Example

Sign in as Ed (the Glossary Editor).

Add the Account Number term to the Workflow Example Glossary.

Any User may Propose an Object (Term)

If the option to Allow any User to Propose Objects is selected when enabling workflow, any user may propose a term.

Steps

1. Sign in as a user without any workflow responsibilities.
2. Navigate to that object page of the custom model (e.g., glossary) you for which you wish to propose an object (e.g., Terms or Acronyms).
3. Go to More Actions and select Propose > (object).
4. Enter a NAME and DESCRIPTION.
5. Click OK.

Example

Sign in as Bob (which is a simply a Business User without any workflow responsibilities) and navigate to that object page of the Workflow Example Glossary.

Go to More Actions and select Propose > Term.

Enter “Proposed Term” for the NAME and “User Guide candidate term” DESCRIPTION

However, sign in as Administrator and you will see the candidate term:

Review Proposed Object Status

You may review the status of the object you have proposed to see where they are in the approval process.

Steps

1. Sign in as a user without any workflow responsibilities.
2. Navigate to that object page of the custom model (e.g., glossary) you for which you wish to propose an object (e.g., Terms or Acronyms).
3. Go to More Actions and select Propose > My Current Proposed Objects.

Example

Sign in as Bob (which is a simply a Business User without any workflow responsibilities) and navigate to that object page of the Workflow Example Glossary.

Go to More Actions and select Propose > My Current Proposed Terms.

Edit an object (term) in a custom model (glossary) with workflow

Steps

1. Sign in as a user with the Workflow Editorcapability object role assignmenton the custom model (glossary) where the object resides.
2. Navigate to that object page of the custom model (glossary) or use the Grid Mode to edit the properties of the object (e.g., term).

3. When analyzing metadata in grid mode, one may bulk update any property associated with any of the rows (or list items in the list view).
4. After editing, you must move the term through the workflow before the results are visible in the Published configuration.

Example

Sign in as Ed (the Editor) that we assigned the proper responsibilities to the Workflow Example Glossary and search for Account Number and pick the term that is in this glossary.

It is in the Draft workflow state and thus ready for editing.

Enter “General purpose account number for the finance domain” in Description.

Click the Create plus sign in the Contains section and pick Acronym. Enter “AcctNr” in the New Acronym dialog and click OK.

Click START REVIEW to move the term on through the workflow for reviewers.

Move an object (term) through the workflow

Adding and editing an object with workflow enabled is much like the process without workflow, except that there are review/approval/publishing steps to follow.

Steps

1. Sign in as a user with the Workflow Editor/Reviewer/Approver/Publishercapability object role assignmenton the glossary (custom model) where the object (term) resides.
2. Navigate to the object page of the object (term) or use the Grid Mode to update the workflow state of the object (term).

3. When analyzing metadata in grid mode, one may bulk update any property associated with any of the rows (or list items in the list view).

This interface is simply the standard object page and all the same features are available. However, according to the workflow steps one must first place the term (term) in Draft workflow state. To do so for an Approved object (term), click on the Create Draft to allow editing. One may also create a new object which will be placed in Draft state using one of the methods described.

Example

Sign in as Ed (the Editor) that we assigned the proper responsibilities to the Workflow Example Glossary and search for Account Number and pick the term that is in this glossary.

It is in the Draft workflow state and thus ready for editing.

Click START REVIEW to go to the review step.

Enter a comment that is tied to this workflow transition.

To review, we should sign in as Robin, who is a member of the Glossary Reviewers. Please do so.

Click RECOMMEND APPROVAL to send it on to the approver, enter a comment and click OK.

Now, we should sign in as an approver. This time, however, after signing in as Administrator we will go to OBJECTS > My Workflow Tasks.

We see there are three objects to shepherd through the workflow, and we completely forgot about one of them, i.e., the acronym we created.

Let’s deal with that acronym now as we are Administrator:

Click START REVIEW on the acronym, comment and click OK.

Click RECOMMEND APPROVAL on the acronym, comment and click OK.

Select both objects (lines) and click the More Actions in the 2 selected button

Click Edit, check the box next to Workflow transition, enter a comment and select Approve.

Click OK.

So, click PUBLISH first on the term then on the acronym (refresh in between), and we are done.

Move a child object (term) to a new parent object (term) with workflow

Moving an object (term) which can be a child to another parent is the same as for the case without workflow.

Deprecate an object (term) with workflow

You may not simply delete an object. Instead, you must move it through the defined workflow process until it is Deprecated. The process is basically identical to the publication process, except that one marks the object (term) for deprecation by setting the Workflow Deprecation Requested under Attributes of the object (term) to “True” when editing the Draft.

Workflow Actions in Grid Mode

When analyzing metadata in grid mode you may include a special column Workflow Actions to display the possible workflow step-based actions available to you with the workflow object role assignments you have.

Please see the example under Move an object (term) through the workflow.

You may also update the Workflow Deprecation Requested settings in bulk in a worksheet.

My Workflow Tasks

Workflow based search criteria, or dashboards, are available as part of the search capability. They are only available (and only meaningful) if you have specified a workflow process for the glossary (custom model).

Please see the example under Move an object (term) through the workflow.