User Guide

Managing Metadata Attributes

With the Privacy Platform, users can change a set of metadata attributes for some platform objects. Only PDDs can benefit from this feature at the moment. Metadata attributes let an organization's policies for descriptive information on data use to be represented in the platform. For example, records of Approver, Restrictions, and Expiry Date may be useful for an organization when creating and working with PDDs, and assessing the risks in their use.

Following the configuration of the set of metadata attributes, platform users can supply metadata values when creating a new platform object via API or the platform user interface. The metadata attributes are then displayed on the object page, obtainable via API, and are also shown when watermarks are extracted.

The attributes themselves have a data type, which determines the format of data that the attribute contains, such as Integer or Date, for example.

Note

Metadata attributes are unique. An attempt to create a duplicate will lead to an error message.

Creating or Editing Metadata Attributes

  1. Select Metadata Attributes on the navigation bar

  2. Click on Create New Metadata Attribute

  3. On the New Metadata Attribute screen:

    1. On the top section of the screen, enter the name of the attribute you would like to create. You can also decide to untick Enable Metadata Field, so the metadata is not available, and therefore not displayed in the metadata list of platform objects.

    2. On the Properties section, you can enter a Display Name. This can be useful when the default name comes from an external system and is not meaningful enough to you. You can add a description to clarify the use of the metadata attribute. By default, all metadata are created with the Value Type String. Use the list box to change it to a more accurate type.

      Note

      If the type Date is selected, then you must enter a date format.

      Example of date formats:

      Format

      Example

      yyyy-MM-dd

      2021-04-25

      yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss

      2021-03-02 13:05:20

      For the syntax of the date format, please see Date and Timestamp formats.

      If the metadata attribute is going to be overwritten by a third-party application, then untick Values are editable via the Privitar Platform UI.

    3. Select Enable Mappings if the metadata attribute should have special meaning to the platform. You need to specify the Entity (currently only Protected Data Domain is available), which is the platform item that will use the metadata attribute, and the mapping. See Metadata attribute mappings for more information.

  4. Click on Save. Now the metadata attribute will be provided every time a new object of the type defined in the Entityfield is created.

Default Metadata Attributes

The following table describes the metadata fields that are enabled for any PDD created with the platform.

Field

Description

Description

A general purpose overview of the platform object.

This metadata attribute is enabled by default.

Approver

The person who has approved the creation of this platform object.

This metadata attribute is enabled by default.

Recipient

The intended recipient of the platform object.

This metadata attribute is enabled by default.

Intended Use

A description of the intended use of the platform object.

Restrictions

A description of any restrictions that might apply to the platform object. For example, access may be subject to contractual or information security limitations.

Expiry Date

The date on which the platform object should cease to be used. Using the data after this date may constitute a risk to the organization.

Note

This date is for information only and has no automatic impact on the physical access to data or the PDD's open/closed state in the platform.

Notes

Any additional notes about the platform object.

Data Types for Metadata Attributes

The following table lists available data types for custom metadata fields.

Type

Limits

String

A UTF-8 characters, max length 2000 bytes

Integer

A Signed 64-bit integer, between -263 and a maximum value of 263-1

Float

A 64-bit precision floating point number

Boolean

A value is either true or false.

Date

The format of the date is specified using the format string entered on the Metadata Attribute Definition. This format is used for internal storage, and when the date metadata value is received via API.

The time could also be specified along with the date.

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