Caution: Business glossary (Preview) on Data Catalog will no longer beavailable whenData Catalog is discontinuedon January 30, 2026. We recommend using business glossary onDataplex Universal Catalog instead. SeeTransition to business glossary on Dataplex Universal CatalogandManage a business glossary.

This document describes how to create and use business glossary content inDataplex Universal Catalog with Data Catalog.

Business glossary provides a single place to maintain and manage business-relatedterminology and definitions across the organization. It lets you attach terms tothe columns of cataloged data entries.

You can use Dataplex Universal Catalog business glossary to do the following:

• Create and maintain business glossaries, categories and terms.
• Use categories to represent hierarchical structures of categories and terms.
• Establish relationships between terms as synonyms or related terms.
• Attach terms to data entry columns.
• Browse and filter terms within business glossary.
• Display related terms and data entries for a given term.
• Search for data entries tagged by a particular term.
• Display related terms for a given data entry.

Terminology

This section describes the terminology used in this document.

Business glossary

Business glossary is a repository that provides appropriate vocabularies, andgoverns the business terms of an enterprise, along withthe associated term definitions and relationships between the terms. Itprovides a single place to maintain andmanage business terms and their definitions. A business glossary has thefollowing property displayed in the console:

• Overview: a free-form rich-text description of business glossary purposeand content.

Category

A category is defined within a business glossary. It lets you organize andstructure various categories and terms. You can nest categories up tothree levels. The following are the properties of a category:

• Category: a relationship used to establish the container of thecurrent category, if any.
• Description: a free-form rich text business definition of the category.
• Data Steward: specifies the person responsible for maintaining the category.This is a descriptive property and it doesn't affect the permissions on thecategory.

Term

A term is defined within a business glossary either in the glossary directly orwithin any category found in the glossary. It describes a concept used in aparticular branch of business within an enterprise. A term has the followingproperties displayed in the console:

• Category: a relationship used to establish the container of thecurrent term, if any.
• Description: a free-form rich text business definition of the term.
• Data Steward: specifies the person responsible for maintaining the term.This is a descriptive property and it doesn't affect the permissions on theterm.

You can attach terms to the columns of a data entry to indicate that thecolumns are described by those terms.

Synonym

A synonym is a relationship used to indicate semantic similarity or equivalencebetween two different terms. It is used when two similar terms are defined bydifferent teams in different glossaries. For example,earnings andincome.

Related term

A related term is a relationship used to indicate that two terms are semanticallyrelated, yet different. For example,profit andincome.

Limitations

• The bulk import of terms into a business glossary isn't supported.
• The business glossary feature is only supported in the Google Cloud console.
• When you search for data entries on theDataplex Universal CatalogSearch page, thesearch result includes data entries where one of their attached terms matchesthe term used for search. However, reference to the matched term isn'tdisplayed in the search result.
• BigQuery Omni regionsaren't supported. You can't create business glossary content or attach termsto data entries in these regions.
• When using business glossary on Data Catalog, you can't attachbusiness glossary terms to the columns of Dataplex Universal Catalog entries.

Required roles and permissions

To get the permissions that you need to create and manage glossaries, ask your administrator to grant you the following IAM roles on the project:

• Full access to glossaries, categories, and terms:DataCatalog Glossary Owner (roles/datacatalog.glossaryOwner)
• Read glossaries, categories, and terms, create attachments between terms, and create attachments between terms and data entries:DataCatalog Glossary User (roles/datacatalog.glossaryUser)
• Read-only access to glossaries, categories, and terms:DataCatalog Entry Viewer (roles/datacatalog.entryViewer)

For more information about granting roles, seeManage access to projects, folders, and organizations.

These predefined roles contain the permissions required to create and manage glossaries. To see the exact permissions that are required, expand theRequired permissions section:

Required permissions

The following permissions are required to create and manage glossaries:

• Full access to glossaries, categories, and terms:
  • datacatalog.entries.*
  • datacatalog.relationships.*
• Read glossaries, categories, and terms, create attachments between terms, and create attachments between terms and data entries:
  • datacatalog.entries.get
  • datacatalog.entries.list
  • datacatalog.relationships.*
• Read-only access to glossaries, categories, and terms:
  • datacatalog.entries.get
  • datacatalog.entries.list
  • datacatalog.entryGroups.get
  • datacatalog.relationships.list
  • resourcemanager.projects.list
  • resourcemanager.projects.get
• Create or delete glossaries:datacatalog.entryGroups.create

You might also be able to get these permissions withcustom roles or otherpredefined roles.

Note: To create or delete glossaries, in addition to theDataCatalog Glossary Owner (roles/datacatalog.glossaryOwner) role, you must begranted the DataCatalog EntryGroup Creator (roles/datacatalog.entryGroupCreator)IAM role or its respective permissions.

For more information, seePredefined roles for Data Catalog.

Create and manage business glossaries

The following sections describe how to create, view, modify, and delete abusiness glossary.

Create a business glossary

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. ClickCreate business glossary.

3. On theCreate business glossary page, specify a name, location, anddescription for the business glossary.

   The name and location fields are mandatory. You cannot change the locationafter you create the glossary.

4. ClickCreate.

   The glossary is created under the current project and the glossary page isdisplayed.

View the list of available glossaries

• In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

  Go to Glossaries

  TheMy glossaries pane displays all the organization's glossariesyou have permission to view, along with their descriptions and last modifiedtimestamps.

Modify a glossary

You can modify the name and description of a glossary.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Click the glossary you want to modify.

   • To edit the name, clickeditEdit,enter a new name, and clickSave.

   • To edit the description, clickEdit description, enter a newdescription, and clickSave.

Delete a glossary

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Click the glossary you want to delete.

3. ClickDelete.

   To confirm your action, enter the glossary name and clickConfirm.

Create and manage categories

The following sections describe how to create, view, update, and deletecategories.

Create a category under a glossary

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Select a glossary in which you want to create a category, and clickCreate category.

3. On theCreate category page, enter a name and a description for thecategory.

4. ClickCreate.

   The category details page opens.

Create a category under a category

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Expand the glossary in which you want to create a category.

3. Select the parent category in which you want to create another category, andclickCreate category. You can nest a category up to three levels.

4. On theCreate category page, enter a name and a description for thecategory.

5. ClickCreate.

   The category details page opens.

View the list of available categories

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. To view the list of available categories in a glossary, expand the glossary.

3. To view the list of available nested categories, expand the category.

Update a category

You can modify the name, description, data steward, and parent category for thecurrent category.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Expand the glossary and click the category you want to modify.

   1. To edit the name, clickeditEditand enter a new name.

   2. To edit the description, clickEdit description and enter a newdescription.

   3. To edit the list of data stewards, clickeditEdit next toSteward, provide a list of data steward emails, andclickSave.

   4. To edit the category, clickeditEdit next toCategory.

      • To change the parent category, in theSelect a category field, enterthe name of a new parent category from the current glossary, and selectit.

      • To remove the current category, in theSelect a category field,select---None---.

      ClickSave.

Delete a category

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Expand the glossary and click the category you want to delete permanently.

   A warning is displayed stating that the deletion is irreversible and allterms and categories under the current category will be moved up to the nextlevel.

   To confirm the deletion, enter the category name and clickConfirm.

Create and manage terms

The following sections describe how to create, view, access, update, and deletea term.

Create a term

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Select a glossary in which you want to create a term, and clickCreate term.

3. On theCreate term page, enter a name and a description for the term.

4. ClickCreate.

   The term details page opens.

View the list of available terms

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. To view the list of available terms in a glossary, expand the glossary.

Access the details of a term

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. To view the list of available terms in a glossary, expand the glossary.

3. Click a term.

   The term details page displays the term name, description, related terms,synonyms, and related entries.

Update a term

You can modify the name, description, and data steward for a term.

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Expand the glossary and click the term you want to modify.

   1. To edit the name, clickeditEditand enter a new name.

   2. To edit the description, clickEdit description and enter a newdescription.

   3. To edit the list of data stewards, clickeditEdit next toSteward, provide a list of data steward emails, andclickSave.

   4. To edit the category, clickeditEdit next toCategory.

      • To change the parent category, in theSelect a category field, enterthe name of a new parent category from the current glossary, and selectit.

      • To remove the current category, in theSelect a category field,select---None---.

      ClickSave.

Delete a term

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Expand the glossary and click the term you want to delete permanently.

   A warning is displayed stating that the deletion is irreversible and allrelationships associated with the term will be removed.

   To confirm the deletion, enter the term name and clickConfirm.

Manage synonyms and related terms

You can add relationships between terms by marking them as related terms orsynonyms. The lists of related terms and synonyms are displayedon the term details page.

Note: Term relationships are bi-directional. For example, when you selectTerm 2 as a synonym ofTerm 1,Term 1 also becomes a synonym ofTerm 2.

Add synonyms and related terms

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Expand the glossary and click the term to which you want to attach a synonymor a related term.

3. ClickeditEdit forRelated termsorSynonyms.

4. In theSearch glossary terms field, enter the term you want toattach, and select the term from the search result.

   The term gets attached immediately when you select it.

5. ClickDone.

Remove synonyms and related terms

1. In the Google Cloud console, go to the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page.

   Go to Glossaries

2. Expand the glossary and click the term for which you want to remove asynonym or a related term.

3. To remove a related term, follow these steps:

   1. ClickeditEdit next toRelated terms.

   2. For the related term you want to delete, clickcloseDelete . The attachment isdeleted immediately.

   3. ClickDone.

4. To remove a synonym, follow these steps:

   1. ClickeditEdit next toSynonyms.

   2. For the synonym you want to delete, clickcloseDelete. The attachment isdeleted immediately.

   3. ClickDone.

Manage column level terms

You can attach terms to the columns of Data Catalog(Deprecated) entries thathave schemas (for example, tables and filesets), to provide more context aboutthe column data.

Attach terms to columns

1. Navigate to a Data Catalog entry that has a schema.

2. Click theSchema tab.

3. In theBusiness Terms column, for the field you want to attach terms to,clickaddAdd .

4. In theTerm search field, enter the term name and select it from thesearch result. You can select multiple terms.

5. ClickAttach terms.

View the details of terms attached to columns

1. Navigate to a Data Catalog entry that has a schema.

2. Click theSchema tab.

3. In theBusiness Terms column, click the term to view the term description.You can also remove the term or navigate to the term details page using theoptions in this window.

Remove terms attached to columns

1. Navigate to a Data Catalog entry that has a schema.

2. Click theSchema tab.

3. In theBusiness Terms column, for the term that you want to remove, clickcloseDelete

   You can also remove the attached term by clicking the term, and then clickingRemove business term>Confirm.

Locate glossaries and terms

To navigate across your business glossary content, use the glossary and termstree on the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossariespage.

You can use the filter bar on the Dataplex Universal CatalogGlossaries page tolocate categories by display name or terms based on a criteria. The filterreturns items with any attributes matching the filter query. You can also usethe following qualifiers:

• parent:VALUE: highlights the terms whose parent glossaryname or description matchesVALUE. For example,parent:Finance highlights the terms connected with the parentglossary name or description containing the phraseFinance.

• contact:VALUE: highlights the terms where the data stewardisVALUE. For example,contact:johndoe@company.orghighlights the entries connected to terms with data steward matchingjohndoe@company.org.

• synonym:VALUE: highlights the terms that have at leastone synonym with name or description matchingVALUE.For example,synonym:interest highlights the terms that have relatedterms with name or description containing the phraseinterest.

• related_to:VALUE: highlights the terms that have at leastone related term with name or description matchingVALUE.For example,related_to:discounting highlights the terms that have relatedterms with name or description containing the phrasediscounting.

Search for data entries using terms

You can use the Dataplex Universal Catalog business glossary contentwhen searching for entries on theDataplex Universal CatalogSearch page.

Note: In this section, the phrase "entries connected to a term" refers to theentries with at least one column containing an attached term.

The following search scenarios are supported:

• Simple search: The search query is specified as free-form text thatcaptures term name or description. Search results include entries connectedto a term with name or description matching the search query. These resultsare displayed alongside the results fetched from the other ways of matchingthat are unrelated to business glossary content.

  Note: The search result returns the entries connected to terms matching thesearch query. However, the source of the match isn't displayed in the searchresult.

• Search using qualifiers: The search query is specified asterm:VALUE.The search result includes entries connected to a term where a substring ofname, description, or data steward matchesVALUE.

What's next

• Create business glossary content.
• Discover data entries using attached glossary terms.