When governing data across multiple workspaces, inconsistent classification makes assets hard to find and govern. Asset units let you group workspaces under a shared classification system—so teams across business lines can organize and govern data models, metrics, physical tables, and tasks in a consistent way.
This topic describes how to create and configure asset units in DataWorks data governance.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have:
A DataWorks Enterprise Edition instance
One of the following roles: tenant administrator, tenant governance administrator, workspace manager, or data governance administrator
Access control
The operations you can perform depend on your role:
| Role | Permissions |
|---|---|
| Tenant administrator | View all asset units of the tenant. Create, edit, and delete asset units and their categories. |
| Tenant governance administrator | View all asset units of the tenant. Create, edit, and delete asset units and their categories. |
| Workspace manager | View asset units that contain their workspaces. Remove their workspaces from an asset unit. Delete or edit categories under the corresponding asset unit. |
| Data governance administrator | View asset units that contain their workspaces. Remove their workspaces from an asset unit. Delete or edit categories under the corresponding asset unit. |
Go to the asset unit page
Log on to the DataWorks console. In the top navigation bar, select a region.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose Data Governance > Data Asset Governance, then click Go to Data Asset Governance.
In the left navigation pane, choose System Settings > Governance Settings > Asset Unit.
On the Asset Unit page, search for existing asset units by Name or Workspace.
Design your asset unit structure
Before creating asset units, decide how to group your workspaces. Asset units work best when each unit represents a logical data governance boundary—such as a business line, data domain, or team ownership boundary.
For example:
Group workspaces that belong to the same business domain (such as finance or supply chain) into one asset unit for unified category governance.
Group workspaces that share the same data ownership team into one asset unit to streamline access and classification.
Each asset unit supports up to two independent category perspectives, so you can classify the same assets from different angles within a single unit.
Create an asset unit
An asset unit consists of one or more workspaces. Workspaces that serve similar business purposes are good candidates for grouping into a single asset unit.
On the Asset Unit page, click Create in the upper-left corner.
In the dialog box that opens, configure the following parameters:
Parameter Description Name The name of the asset unit. Description The description of the asset unit. Workspace where assets are managed Select one or more workspaces to include. Only workspaces for which you have the workspace administrator role are shown. Click OK to save the asset unit.
In the Actions column, click Details to open the Asset Unit Details page, where you can configure Basic Information, Asset Source, and Asset Category.
Delete an asset unit
Before deleting an asset unit, make sure no business assets are associated with it. If any business assets remain associated, the deletion fails.
To delete an asset unit, click Delete in the Actions column on the Asset Unit page.
Configure basic information
On the Asset Unit Details page, click the Basic Information tab to view and edit the asset unit's configuration and change history.
Configure asset unit: Displays the current details, including Name, Description, Creator, Owner, and Workspace where assets are managed. Click Edit to modify the Name, Description, and Managed asset workspaces.
Change history: Shows all modifications to the asset unit's workspace membership. Columns include Workspace name, Workspace display name, Changed by, Actions, and Operation time.
Configure asset sources
On the Asset Unit Details page, click the Asset Source tab to view the four types of assets that an asset unit can govern:
| Asset type | What's included |
|---|---|
| Table | Physical tables in MaxCompute, EMR, and Hologres computing resources |
| Model | Tables created in Dimensional Modeling. Conceptual models support only dimensional conceptual models. Logical models support fact tables, dimension tables, aggregate tables, source tables, and application tables. |
| Metric | Metrics created in Data Metric |
| Task | All tasks in auto triggered tasks |
Configure asset categories
Asset categories let you organize business assets into a structured hierarchy within an asset unit. After you create categories, attach them to business assets for unified governance.
Manage category views
An asset unit supports up to two category views. Each view is an independent category hierarchy, so you can classify the same assets from different perspectives—for example, by business domain and by data ownership.
Add a category view: On the Asset Category tab, click Edit Category Perspective.
Switch between category views: Click the drop-down arrow in the Category Perspective drop-down list to switch between views.
Each category view must be configured separately. A new category view contains only the All Assets directory by default.
Edit categories
Within each category view, configure a multi-level category hierarchy to assign assets to the appropriate categories.
Add a category: To the right of All Assets or a specific category under Category Settings, click the
icon.Edit category properties: Select a category. In the Category Property Settings pane, modify the Category display name and Owner.
Delete a category: To the right of the target category, click the
icon and select Delete.
After editing, click Save on the left side of the Asset Category tab to apply your changes.
A category cannot be deleted if it contains subcategories or has attached business assets. Delete the subcategories first, or manually detach the business assets before deleting the category.
Export categories
On the Asset Category tab, click Export Category as Excel File to download the category structure as an Excel file.
Next steps
After you configure an asset unit, attach its categories to business assets on the Business Assets page.