Area 2 - Glossary

Figure 1: Packages for area 2 - the glossary

• 0210: Top-level Glossary object definition.
• 0220: Glossary Categories and their relationships.
• 0230: Glossary Terms and their relationships to Glossary and Category.

• 0240: Semantic relationships between Glossary Terms
• 0250: Structuring relationships between Glossary Terms

Figure 2: The glossary object provides the anchor point for the glossary content

The anchor for each glossary is the Glossary object. 

The classifications associated with the glossary object are used to document the type of vocabulary it contains and its purpose:

• Taxonomy - This is a glossary where the terms have been organized into a category hierarchy that reflects their meaning or use.
• Canonical Vocabulary - this glossary provides the standard vocabulary definitions for an organization.  Typically terms from other glossaries are linked to terms from the canonical glossary.
• ExternallySourcedGlossary - The content from this glossary comes from an external source.  It may be, for example an industry-specific glossary, or from a standards body, or from an open data site, or from a commercial organization.

These classifications are independent of one another so a Glossary object may have none, one or all of these classifications attached.

Figure 3: The glossary category and its hierarchy

• GlossaryCategory represents a category in a glossary. 
• CategoryAnchor links each category to exactly one Glossary object.  This means that this is its home glossary.  If the Glossary object is deleted then so are all of the categories linked to it.
• CategoryHierarchyLink is a relationship used to organize categories into a hierarchy to, for example, create a structure for a taxonomy.  A category may have none or one super-categories.  However this super-category may be in a different glossary.
• SubjectArea is a classification for a category that indicates that the category represents a subject area.
• LibraryCategoryReference provides reference information for how this category corresponds to a category in an external glossary.

Figure 4: Terms

• GlossaryTerm represents a term in a glossary. 
• TermAnchor links each term to exactly one Glossary object.  This means that this is its home glossary.  If the Glossary object is deleted then so are all of the terms linked to it.
• TermCategorization is a relationship used to organize terms into categories.  A term may be linked with many categories and a category may have many terms linked to it.  This relationship may connect terms and categories in different glossaries.
• LibraryTermReference provides reference information for how this term corresponds to a term in an external glossary.

Figure 5: The dictionary model

• RelatedTerm is a relationship used to describe semantic relationships between terms.  The TermRelationshipType defines the type of relationship, that points between the "from" term to the "to" term.
  • UNSPECIFIED - the relationship type is not specified because for example, it is still under development, or has come from a metadata repository that does not support specific relationships.
  • SYNONYM - the related terms mean the same thing
  • ANTONYM - the related terms mean the opposite to each other.
  • PREFERRED_TERM - the "to" term should be used in preference to the "from" term.
  • REPLACED_BY - the "to" term must be used in the place of the "from" term.  This is stronger version of the PREFERRED_TERM.
  • TRANSLATION - the related terms represent the same terms but each are written in a different language.  Hence one is a translation of the other.
  • USED_IN - the "to" term is a description of a context (see ContextDefinition) and this term relationship states that the "from" term is used in the context described in the "to" term.
  • ISA - The ISA relationship defines that "to" term is a more generic term than the "from" term.  For example, this relationship would be use to say that "Cat" ISA "Animal".
  • VALID_VALUE - the "from" term describes one of the valid values that could be assigned to a data item that has the meaning described in the "to" term.
  • OTHER - the type of relationship is different from the other relationship types.

The TermRelationshipStatus defines how reliable the relationship is:

• • DRAFT means the relationship is under development.
  • ACTIVE means the relationship is validated and in use.
  • DEPRECATED means the the relationship is being phased out.
  • OBSOLETE means that the relationship should not be used anymore.
  • OTHER means that the status is not one of the statuses listed above.  The description field can be used to add more details.

• SemanticAssignment is a relationship used to assign a term to a referenceable object.  This means that the term describes the meaning of the referenceable object.  The semantic assignment needs to be a controlled relationship when glossary definitions are used to provide classifications for the data assets and hence define how the data is to be governed.  Thus TermAssignmentStatus defines how much the semantic assignment should be trusted.  The relationship is created by the user (person or engine) identified by the createdBy attribute.  The steward is the person responsible for assessing the relationship and deciding if it should be approved or not.
  
  • DISCOVERED - this semantic assignment was added by a discovery engine.
  • PROPOSED - this semantic assignment was proposed by person - they may be a subject mater expert, or consumer of the Referenceable asset.
  • IMPORTED - the relationship has been imported from outside of the open metadata cluster.
  • VALIDATED - this relationship has been reviewed and is highly trusted.
  • DEPRECATED - this relationship is being phased out.  There may be another semantic relationship to the Referenceable that will ultimately replace this relationship.
  • OBSOLETE - this relationship is no longer in use.
  • OTHER - the status of the relationship does not match any of the other term status values.  The description field can be used to add details about the relationship.

• ActivityDescription is a classification used to indicate that the term describes a verb, or an activity.  Most term definitions are nouns, they describe concepts or things.  However, it is useful to be able to define the meanings of particular activities in the glossary.  The ActivityDescription classification highlights when a term describes such an activity.
  • OPERATION - describes a function or API call
  • ACTION - describes a governance action that results from evaluating governance rules.
  • TASK - describes a task performed by a person.
  • PROCESS - describes a process, which is a setries of steps that are performed in a defined order.
  • PROJECT - describes a type of project.
  • OTHER - describes some other type of activity
• ContextDefinition - the term describes a context.
• AbstractConcept - the term describes an abstract concept.

Figure 6: Spine Object Model

• SpineObject - is a classification to say the term represents a type of object
• SpineAttribute - is a classification to say the term represents a type of attribute that is common for a spine object.
• ObjectIdentifier - is a classification saying that a term is typically an identifier attributed for a spine object.

Note that a term may be a spine object and/or a spine attribute and/or an object identifier at the same time.

• TermHASARelationship - is a term relationship between a term representing a SpineObject and a term representing a SpineAttribute.
• TermISATYPEOFRelationship - is a term relationship between two SpineObjects saying that one is the sybtype (specialisation) of the other.
• TermTYPEDBYRelationship - is a term relationship between a SpineAttribute and a SpineObject to say that the SpineAttribute is implemented using a type represented by the SpineObject.