Tags

Tags are key-value pairs you can apply to data assets, policies, rules, and other entities in ADOC to classify, organize, and filter your data estate. Each tag has a key name and one or more values — for example, a key of environment with values of production or staging.

Tags are managed from the Tags page, which is accessible from the left navigation under Governance. The page is organized into two tabs: Tags for managing the tag library, and Data Labelers for configuring rules that automatically apply tags to assets.

Key Concepts

Concept	Description
Tag	A key-value pair applied to an asset or entity. A tag key can have one or more values. For example, the key "team" might have values "data-platform" or "analytics".
Tag Type	Controls who can create and manage the tag. User Defined tags are created and managed by any authorized user. Governed tags are managed under stricter governance controls.
Tag Status	The lifecycle state of a tag key. Active tags are available for use. Retired tags remain visible but can no longer be applied. Merged tags have been consolidated into another tag key.
Data Labeler	An automated rule that applies one or more tags to assets when their name or column values match a configured regex pattern. Data Labelers run during crawl and profiling jobs.

Note Governed tags behave the same as User Defined tags, with the exception that new values cannot be created for them during association. Approval workflows for Governed tags (Create, Retire, and Merge) will be introduced in a future release.

Tags Tab

The Tags tab displays all tag keys in your namespace. Use the

Tag Type filter to show only User Defined or Governed tags.
Status filter to show tags by lifecycle state (for example, Active or Retired).
Search field to find a specific tag key by name.

The tag listing table shows the following columns:

Column	Description
Key Name	The tag key identifier.
Values	The number of values defined for the tag key, shown as a count. Hover over or click the count to view the list of values.
Tag Type	User Defined or Governed.
Description	An optional description of the tag key's purpose.
Created By	The user or service account that created the tag.
Last Modified	The date and time the tag was last updated.

Create a Tag

Navigate to Governance > Tags.
Click Create Tag in the top-right corner.
In the Create Tag dialog, complete the following fields:

Field	Required	Description
Key Name	Yes	A unique identifier for the tag. Use a short, descriptive name. Example: project, team, environment.
Tag Type	No	User Defined (default): Any authorized user can manage this tag. Governed: Managed under stricter governance controls.
Requested Values	Yes	One or more values for the tag key. Type a value and press Enter to add it. You can add multiple values.
Description	No	A plain-language description of what this tag key represents.

Click Create. The tag appears in the listing with an Active status.

Manage a Tag

Each tag in the listing has an actions menu (⋮) with the following options:

Action	Description
Edit Key	Update the key name or description of the tag.
Add Value	Add one or more new values to an existing tag key.
Merge Tag	Consolidate this tag key into another. The source tag's values are moved into the destination tag. See Merge a Tag below.
Retire Tag	Mark the tag as retired. Retired tags remain visible in the listing but can no longer be applied to new entities. Existing associations are preserved.
Delete Tag	Permanently remove the tag key and all its values. This action cannot be undone.

Important Delete removes the tag along with all its associations. Retire preserves the existing associations and continues to display them in the UI, but prevents any new associations from being created. Both delete and retire actions are irreversible.

Merge a Tag

Merging consolidates two tag keys into one. The destination tag key is retained and all values from the source tag are merged into it. The source tag is no longer available after the merge.

Click ⋮ next to the source tag and select Merge Tag.
In the Merge Tags dialog, the Merging Key (Source) is pre-filled with the tag you selected.
Select the destination tag from the Merge With (Destination) dropdown.
Optionally, enter a Merge Justification to record the reason for the merge.
Click Merge. Values from the source tag are added to the destination tag. The source tag transitions to a Merged status.

Note Merging preserves the previous state. Only Active and Retired state values are merged; Merged and Deleted state values are not included.

Data Labelers Tab

Data Labelers automatically apply tags to assets during crawl and profiling jobs, based on regex pattern matching. You do not need to manually assign tags to each asset — the labeler does it for you whenever a matching asset or column is discovered.

The Data Labelers tab lists all configured labelers. Use the:

Enabled toggle (at the top of the page) to turn all Data Labeler execution on or off globally.
Sub Scope filter to show labelers scoped to Asset Name or Column Value matching only.
Search field to find a specific labeler by name.

The Data Labelers listing table shows the following columns:

Column	Description
Name	The unique identifier for the Data Labeler.
Description	An optional description of what the labeler classifies.
Asset Sub-Scope	Asset Name: The labeler matches against the asset's name. Column Value: The labeler matches against values found in asset columns.
Regex	The regex pattern used for matching. Shown truncated if long.
Tags	The number of tag key-value pairs that will be applied when the pattern matches. Click the count to view the specific tags.
Updated At	The date and time the labeler was last modified.
Applied	The total number of assets or columns to which this labeler has applied tags. A value of 0 indicates the labeler has not yet matched any assets.

Note The Enabled toggle acts only as a filter to display enabled labelers and does not perform any actions. Individual labelers can be enabled or disabled using their specific actions menu (⋮).

Create a Data Labeler

On the Data Labelers tab, click Create Data Labeler.
In the Create Data Labeler dialog, complete the following fields:

Field	Required	Description
Data Labeler Name	Yes	A unique name for the labeler.
Description	No	A plain-language description of what the labeler detects and classifies.
Asset Sub-Scope	Yes	Match to asset name: The regex is applied against the asset name (for example, table or file names). Match to column value: The regex is applied against column values within the asset.
Regex Pattern	Yes	A regular expression that the labeler uses to identify matching assets or column values. Example: ^[a-z]+$ matches column values that contain only lowercase letters.
Generate Tags on pattern matching	Yes	The tag key and value to apply to assets when the regex pattern matches. Select a key from the Key Name dropdown and a value from the Value dropdown. Use the + and − buttons to add or remove additional tag assignments.

Click Create. The labeler is saved and will apply tags during the next crawl or profiling job that covers matching assets.

Note Data Labelers must be enabled to run. Asset Name labelers run after asset creation or update (for all assets), or after a crawl of a specific assembly. Column Value labelers run after table profiling.

Viewing Tags on an Asset

Tags applied to an asset — whether manually assigned or applied by a Data Labeler — are visible in several places:

On the asset detail page, in the Tags column in the Discover Assets listing.
At the top of the individual asset's detail page.
In policy and rule listings where tag-based filtering is available.

Important Tags designated as protected in Data Protection settings will mask column values when those tags are applied to an asset column. For more information, see Data Protection.

Next Steps

Apply tags to assets manually from the Asset Details page using the Tags section in the Metadata area.
Use tag-based filters on the Discover Assets, Manage Policies, and Rules pages to scope your views.
Configure Data Labelers to automate tag assignment across large data estates without manual effort.

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