External Tags
External Tags let your team use supported labels from a connected data catalog as business context in Qualytics. They are imported during a manual pull sync and applied only to catalog assets that the connector can match to Qualytics assets within the configured scope.
What Are External Tags?
External Tags originate in a supported data catalog, such as Atlan, Alation, or Microsoft Purview. They are read-only in Qualytics, so the connected catalog remains the place where your governance team changes their names, descriptions, colors, and asset assignments.
After the governance team changes a tag in the catalog, run another manual pull sync to bring supported changes into Qualytics. The Event Driven setting does not pull catalog changes. It sends supported Qualytics updates to the catalog only.
Why Use External Tags?
External Tags help teams apply the same business language when they review data quality:
- Shared context: Use familiar labels such as Customer Data, Finance, or PII in Qualytics.
- Less duplicate setup: Import supported catalog tags instead of recreating each one manually.
- Focused review: Filter supported Qualytics assets, checks, and anomalies by imported tags.
- Clear ownership: Keep catalog-managed labels read-only in Qualytics.
How It Works
| Step | What Happens |
|---|---|
| 1 | Configure a supported data catalog integration under Settings > Integrations and select its domain, collection, or other available scope. |
| 2 | Start a manual synchronization that includes Pull. |
| 3 | The connector matches supported catalog assets to Qualytics assets within the configured scope. |
| 4 | Supported tags or classifications from matched assets appear in Qualytics as External Tags. |
| 5 | Review the synchronization results and errors to confirm which assets and tags were updated. |
Matching and Sync Boundaries
External Tags reflect the result of a synchronization, not a live connection to every catalog asset.
- Only assets matched by the connector receive imported tags.
- Domain, collection, and connector settings limit which catalog assets are considered.
- Supported asset types and metadata vary by catalog integration.
- If an imported tag has the same name as an existing Qualytics tag, the Overwrite Tags setting controls whether the existing tag is converted or the imported tag is skipped.
- Changes made in the catalog appear in Qualytics after a later manual pull sync completes successfully.
See Data Catalog Integrations for synchronization options and connector-specific behavior.
Example
A governance team manages a Sensitive Data tag in Atlan and assigns it to three finance tables.
- An administrator configures the Atlan integration with the domains that contain those tables.
- A user runs a manual pull sync.
- Qualytics matches the supported Atlan tables to Qualytics tables in that scope.
- The Sensitive Data label appears as an External Tag on the matched assets.
- Data stewards can filter related checks and anomalies by that tag while investigating quality signals.
If the governance team later renames the tag in Atlan, the renamed value appears in Qualytics after another successful manual pull sync.
Common Uses
Data Governance
Use labels such as PII, Customer Data, or Financial Records to bring established classification context into data quality review.
Data Stewardship
Filter checks and anomalies by a business domain or sensitivity tag, then focus review on the assets that matter to a decision or process.
Risk and Compliance
Use imported classifications to find assets that may be in scope for a policy review. A tag helps define scope, but it does not establish compliance on its own.
Key Takeaways
- External Tags come from supported data catalog integrations and are read-only in Qualytics.
- A manual pull sync imports supported tags or classifications for matched assets in the configured scope.
- Event-driven synchronization is push-only and does not refresh External Tags from the catalog.
- Synchronization results and errors show what the connector updated or could not match.