How Field Data Catalog Links Work

The Data Catalog Links dialog on a field shows how that column is linked to its counterpart asset in each connected data catalog, and lets you correct the link when the automatic match picked the wrong asset or found none. It works the same way across every connected catalog; for the list of catalogs Qualytics integrates with, see Supported Data Catalogs.

A link connects the field to one column-level asset in one connected catalog, and the same field can hold one link per catalog. This page covers where field links come from, how manual and automatic links behave, and why the datastore's link matters more than any single field's.

This page covers fields

Everything here is about the links of a field. The datastore is the anchor of the feature; for how the links work on the other levels, see How Data Catalog Links Work and How Container Data Catalog Links Work.

Availability

The dialog is offered on fields of datastores backed by a database connector (JDBC and native connectors). Computed fields cannot be linked. They exist only in Qualytics, so the catalog has no counterpart asset for them. Fields whose status is excluded or missing are not linkable either. File-based (DFS) datastores do not offer Data Catalog Links, and neither do enrichment datastores. A connected data catalog integration is required.

Manual Linking

The catalog synchronization creates links automatically by matching names and hierarchy between Qualytics and the catalog. When the automatic match picks the wrong column or finds none, anyone with the Editor team permission on the field's datastore can override it and point the field at its true counterpart.

The counterpart can be found two ways: by searching the catalog's columns by name or identifier, or by handing Qualytics the asset's URL from the catalog, from which it extracts the identifier and resolves the asset, each catalog with its own address format.

Relinking to a different asset resets the link's Last Synced, so the next synchronization pushes the full Qualytics metadata to the newly linked asset instead of skipping it as unchanged.

Manual and Automatic Links

A link you set yourself is a manual link, and it behaves differently from the ones the synchronization creates:

A manual link is never overwritten by a later synchronization. The automatic matcher leaves it alone.
A manual link stays valid when the integration's configuration changes, while automatic links are re-evaluated.
Unlink is only offered on manual links. Removing an automatic link would be pointless, since the next synchronization would just recreate it. After unlinking, the next synchronization is free to auto-match the field again.

The Field Link Corrects This Field Only

Unlike a manual link on the datastore, which anchors how every container and field resolves in the catalog, a manual field link fixes that one asset and nothing else. If many fields resolve against the wrong catalog source, link the datastore manually instead of correcting fields one by one; see How Data Catalog Links Work at the datastore level.