DataWorks:Custom attributes

Overview

The DataWorks Custom Attributes feature lets you enrich Workspaces and Datasets with Business Metadata tailored to your specific business needs. With the built-in inheritance mechanism, you can manage metadata at scale, which significantly improves metadata management efficiency.

Custom Attributes solve the following challenges:

• Missing business context: Technical Metadata cannot answer critical business questions, such as "Who is the business owner?" or "What is the definition of this metric?"

• Inefficient configuration: When thousands of tables or Datasets must adhere to the same governance standard, such as a unified approval process, manual configuration for each item is time-consuming, error-prone, and difficult to maintain.

The core capabilities of Custom Attributes include:

• Custom Attribute definition: Administrators can define an attribute's name, Identifier, and Data Type (such as Text or Enum), and bind them to specific Entity types.

• Attribute Value configuration: Users can view and edit the values of Custom Attributes on the entities to which they are bound.

• Attribute Inheritance: Attribute Values can be inherited across object hierarchies, which reduces repetitive configuration.

Use cases:

• Tagging a Dataset with business information, such as its business domain and data owner, to facilitate search and management in Data Map.

• Configuring a unified data approval link for a Workspace. All Datasets within that Workspace automatically inherit this link, eliminating the need for individual configuration.

Limitations

• A Custom Attribute name must be unique within a Tenant.

• A Custom Attribute Identifier must be unique within a Tenant and cannot be modified after it is created.

• The Data Type of a Custom Attribute cannot be modified after it is created.

Permissions

The following table describes the permissions required for operations related to Custom Attributes. An Alibaba Cloud Account has all permissions by default. This table lists the permission requirements only for RAM Users and RAM roles.

Create a custom attribute

Administrators can create custom attributes by following the steps below.

1. Log on to the DataWorks console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Data Map.

2. In the left-side navigation pane, hover over the Configuration Management icon and select Custom Property Configuration.

3. On the Custom Attribute management page, click + Add.

4. In the Create Custom Property dialog box, configure the parameters. The following table describes the parameters.

   Category	Parameter	Description
   Attribute Configuration	Identifier	The Unique Identifier (key) for the Custom Attribute, used in scenarios such as API calls. The Identifier can contain only letters, digits, and underscores (_). It cannot be modified after creation.
   	Name	The display name of the Custom Attribute. The name must be unique within the Tenant and can be up to 128 characters in length.
   	Type	The Data Type of the Attribute Value. The type cannot be modified after creation. The following types are supported: Enum Value: The attribute value is selected from a predefined list of options. Text: The attribute value is a free-form text string. Link: The attribute value is a user-provided link, which includes a Link Title and a URL.
   	Enum Value	If you select Enum Value as the attribute type, you must configure a list of selectable Enum Items.
   	Description	A description of the Custom Attribute.
   Effective Scope	Applicable Entity Type	The Entity type to which this Custom Attribute applies. Supported object types include Workspace and Dataset.
   	Inherit	This option is supported only for objects of the Workspace type. If you enable this option, the attribute supports inheritance. Datasets associated with the Workspace automatically inherit the Attribute Value. For example, if you set the "Environment Type" attribute to "Production" for a Workspace, its associated Datasets automatically receive the same attribute value. When the Attribute Value of the parent object is updated, the inherited value is also updated.
   	Allow Overwrite	If you enable this option, child objects can override the inherited Attribute Value. An overridden value becomes a local value and is no longer updated when the parent object's value changes.
   	Enable as a Filter	Available for attributes of the Enum Value type, this option allows the Custom Attribute to be used as a search filter.
   	Show on Details Page	Specifies whether to display this Custom Attribute on an object's Details Page.

5. Click Confirm. After the Custom Attribute is created, it appears in the Custom Attribute management list. You can edit or delete the attribute from this list.

Configure and view custom attribute values

After you create custom attributes, you can configure specific attribute values for workspaces and datasets.

Filter by custom attribute

If a Custom Attribute of the Enum Value type has the Enable as a Filter option enabled, you can use it to filter Workspaces or Datasets during a search.

Attribute inheritance

Custom Attributes support inheritance across object hierarchies, allowing child objects to inherit the Attribute Values of their parent objects.

• Inheritance Chain: The Custom Attribute inheritance hierarchy is: Workspace > Dataset.

  For example, when you configure a Custom Attribute value at the Workspace level, all Datasets within that Workspace automatically inherit that value.

• Inheritance Policy: The Allow Overwrite option, which you can configure when creating a Custom Attribute, defines the inheritance behavior.

  • If you enable Allow Override: Child objects (Datasets) inherit the Attribute Value from the parent (Workspace) by default, but you can set a different value on the child object to override the inherited one. For example, a Workspace can have a standard approval link that most of its Datasets inherit. However, for a specific Dataset that contains sensitive information, you can override the link with a more stringent approval process.

  • If you disable Allow Override: Child objects must inherit the Attribute Value from the parent object and cannot modify it.

• Parent value changes: When the Attribute Value of a parent object changes, the new value propagates to all child objects that inherit it. This change does not affect child objects with overridden values.

• Inheritance indicator: On the Dataset Details Page, a hint icon appears next to Custom Attributes that are inherited from a Workspace. You can hover over the icon to view the inheritance source and override policy.

  

Related topics

• Data Map

• Overview of Data Map Permission Control