> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dqlabs.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Glossary

> How to build and use Prizm's business vocabulary — Glossaries, Categories, and Terms that define the authoritative meaning of data attributes.

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The **Glossary** is Prizm's business vocabulary layer. It gives every attribute a canonical, organization-agreed definition — so that "Revenue" means the same thing whether you're looking at it in a dashboard, a pipeline, or a data contract.

The Glossary is organized as a three-level hierarchy:

```text theme={null}
Glossary
  └── Category
        └── Term  ←── linked to one or more Attributes
```

## The three levels

| Level        | Description                                                                | Example                                                    |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Glossary** | Top-level vocabulary collection — typically one per domain or subject area | `Finance Glossary`, `Customer Glossary`                    |
| **Category** | Logical grouping of related terms within a glossary                        | `Revenue Metrics`, `Customer Identifiers`, `Product Codes` |
| **Term**     | A single business concept with a name, definition, and optional context    | `Net Revenue`, `Customer ID`, `SKU`                        |

## Cardinality rules

| Entity                            | Term assignment                                    |
| --------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- |
| **Asset** (table, view, pipeline) | No direct term — meaning comes from its attributes |
| **Attribute** (column)            | Exactly 1 Term — the primary business definition   |

An attribute has one Term. A Term can be linked to many attributes across the catalog — all of them share that single authoritative definition.

## How to create a Glossary

<Steps>
  <Step title="Navigate to Semantics → Glossary">
    Click **Semantics** in the top navigation bar, then select **Glossary**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click + Add Glossary">
    <Frame>
      <img src="https://mintcdn.com/dqlabs/Qsn1uj9FNsBus5LS/images/image-112.png?fit=max&auto=format&n=Qsn1uj9FNsBus5LS&q=85&s=47eefc0b48449babbf798531e769f624" alt="Image" width="2480" height="1152" data-path="images/image-112.png" />
    </Frame>

    Enter a name and optional description. Click **Save**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How to create a Category

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open a Glossary">
    Click the glossary name to open it. The left panel shows the glossary tree.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click + Add Category">
    Enter a name and optional description for the category. Click **Save**.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How to create a Term

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open a Category">
    Click a category in the left-panel tree.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Click + Add Term">
    Fill in the term details:

    | Field          | Required | Notes                                                          |
    | -------------- | -------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
    | **Name**       | Yes      | The business name as used by stakeholders                      |
    | **Definition** | Yes      | Clear, business-readable explanation — avoid technical jargon  |
    | **Category**   | Yes      | Pre-filled from the selected category                          |
    | **Owner**      | No       | The team or person responsible for maintaining this definition |
    | **Tags**       | No       | Labels for filtering or policy targeting                       |
    | **Status**     | No       | Draft \| Active \| Deprecated                                  |
  </Step>

  <Step title="Save">
    Click **Save**. The term is now available to assign to attributes.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## How to link a Term to an Attribute

Open any asset's detail page → **Attributes** tab → click an attribute → right-side panel → **Term** field → search and select.

Linking the term to an attribute makes it visible to:

* The asset catalog filter panel
* The Converse semantic search
* RBAC policies scoped to term-level definitions
* Data contracts that reference the term

## Glossary left-panel tree

The Glossary page shows a collapsible tree in the left panel:

```text theme={null}
▼ Finance Glossary
   ▼ Revenue Metrics
      Net Revenue
      Gross Revenue
      ARR
   ▼ Customer Identifiers
      Customer ID
      Account ID
```

Clicking any term in the tree opens its detail view: definition, linked attributes, owner, status, and audit history.

## Use cases

**Define "Revenue" once, link everywhere** — create a `Net Revenue` term in the Finance Glossary. Link it to every column named `net_revenue`, `revenue_net`, or `rev_net` across all source systems. When the definition changes, update it in one place and all linked attributes immediately reflect the change.

**Enable Converse semantic search** — once attributes have Terms, users can ask Converse questions like "show me all tables with a revenue metric" and get accurate results across systems, even if the column names vary.

**Drive governance tracking** — use term status (`Active` / `Deprecated`) to manage lifecycle. When a business concept is retired, mark the term `Deprecated` — downstream consumers see the status in the catalog and know to migrate.

**Data contract alignment** — data contracts can reference terms instead of physical column names. When a pipeline is restructured and column names change, the contract remains valid as long as the attribute still links to the same term.

**Onboarding new analysts** — new team members can browse the Glossary to understand what each business metric means before they start querying. Definitions come from domain experts, not from column name guesswork.

<Note>
  Each attribute can have exactly one Term. If an attribute seems to span multiple business concepts (e.g., a column used for both revenue and billing), that usually indicates the column should be split into two purpose-specific attributes — or that one term definition needs to be broadened.
</Note>