Manage the Marketplace Listing Workflow

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

The Marketplace is where data product consumers discover and access published data products. A data product appears on the Marketplace only after it is listed by the Data Product Admin.

Listing a data product is a governed workflow. A Data Product Admin requests listing through a guided wizard, and designated Marketplace Admins review and approve or deny the request before the data product becomes available to consumers.

This workflow:

• Ensures data products meet Marketplace quality standards before being made available to consumers.

• Introduces a governance checkpoint between data producers and data consumers.

• Provides transparency through status tracking and decision logs.

A data product should be fully prepared before listing. This includes:

• Configuring all properties.

• Validating against Marketplace standards.

• Enabling chat, if applicable.

• Configuring advanced properties.

• Using Suggested Improvements to refine content.

In this topic:

• Configure Marketplace Approvals

• List a Data Product in the Marketplace

• Review and Decide on Listing Requests as a Marketplace Admin

• Track Listing Statuses

• View Listing and Approval Logs

Configure Marketplace Approvals

As a Marketplace Admin, you configure who can approve or deny listing and unlisting requests and how many approvals are required. Marketplace approvals apply to listing and unlisting data products. A data product must pass the required standards and be approved by at least one admin before it is listed.

The approval workflows you configure here populate the Select workflow list that data product owners choose from when they request a listing. See List a Data Product in the Marketplace.

You can configure approvals in two modes:

• Standard: one approval workflow applies to all data products.

• Advanced settings: multiple approval workflows (for example, domain-specific workflows), each with its own approvers and required approvals.

Open the Marketplace Approvals Settings

1. Access the Data Products App.

2. Expand the left-side navigation and click Manage Marketplace. The Marketplace settings page opens on the Overview tab.

3. Under Listing Requirements, locate Marketplace approvals and click Manage. The Marketplace approvals dialog opens with two tabs: Standard and Advanced settings.

Configure a Standard Approval Workflow

On the Standard tab, one approval workflow applies to all data products.

1. Select the Standard tab.

2. Under Select Approvers, select the approvers from the list of Marketplace Admins and Marketplace Maintainers. You have these options:

   • Select Select All to include all Marketplace Admins and Marketplace Maintainers.

   • Select Automatically add new marketplace admin and maintainers as approvers to add future admins and maintainers to the approver list.

   • Select the checkbox next to each user you want to include. Selecting individual users clears the Select All option.

3. In the Number of Required Approvals counter, use the + and - buttons to set how many approvers must approve a product before it is listed in the Marketplace.

   • The default is 1.

   • You may set any number required by your governance process.

4. Click Save approval requirements.

Configure Advanced Approval Workflows

On the Advanced settings tab, you can set up custom approval workflows for this Marketplace. By default, any Marketplace Admin or Marketplace Maintainer can approve listing and unlisting data products, and listing updated versions of products already in the Marketplace. Create a custom workflow when you want to require specific approvers or a different number of approvals for a particular action (List, Unlist, or Edit).

The tab lists the workflows already configured, including the Default Marketplace Approval Workflow. To add a workflow, click Add Another Workflow, enter a name, select the actions it applies to (List, Unlist, or Edit), choose its approvers and required approvals, and click Save and exit. To create another workflow without closing the dialog, click Save and add another instead.

When you finish, click Done to close the dialog.

Edit an Approval Workflow

You can edit an approval workflow only from the Advanced settings tab of the Marketplace approvals page.

1. On the Advanced settings tab, locate the workflow you want to change and click its edit icon.

2. Update the workflow as needed. You can change the Workflow Name, Description, the actions it applies to (List, Unlist, or Edit), the approvers, and the number of required approvals.

   Note

   The Description field appears only when you edit a workflow. It is not shown when you create one.

3. Click Save Changes.

List a Data Product in the Marketplace

When a data product is fully configured and ready for consumption, you submit it for listing. Alation first checks the data product against the Marketplace Standards, and then guides you through a three-step wizard before sending the request to the approvers:

• Check Listing Readiness

• Step 1: Review

• Step 2: Approval and Access

• Step 3: Listing Details

Listing a data product does not publish it immediately. It submits a listing request to the configured Marketplace approvers.

Note

Make sure the data product is fully prepared before you start the listing. The listing wizard does not save a partially completed listing, and you cannot update the data product from within it. Add any data contract rules or ready-to-use assets you want to include on the data product first. See Edit Data Products.

Check Listing Readiness

1. Go to My Data Products.

2. Click the name of the data product you want to list to open its Manage page.

3. On the Overview tab, under Data Product Details, review the Marketplace Status.

   • If the product is not yet listed, the status displays Unlisted.

   • Unlisted data products are accessible only to users who have been explicitly granted permissions and are not visible to Marketplace consumers.

4. In the top-right corner, click List in Marketplace. The Marketplace listing readiness dialog opens and checks the data product against the Marketplace Standards configured for your Marketplace. The results are grouped into:

   • Blockers: Required standards that the product does not meet. You must resolve every blocker before you can list the product. Click Fix blocker next to an item to go to the page where you can address it.

   • Warnings: Recommended standards that the product does not meet. Warnings do not prevent listing, but resolving them improves discoverability and consumer trust. Click Fix warning to address an item.

   • Met standards: Standards that the product meets. Click View all to see the full list of standards.

5. When the product passes all required standards (no blockers remain), proceed to open the listing wizard. The wizard displays the product name with a Draft label and has three steps: Review, Approval & access, and Listing details.

   Note

   The specific standards, and whether each one is a blocker or a warning, depend on the standards your Marketplace Admin has configured. For more information, see Marketplace Standards.

Step 1: Review

On the Review step, review the product details that will be visible in the Marketplace listing.

1. In Product summary, review the product name, description, contact, and the data assets (tables and their column counts) included in the listing.

2. In the Data contract section, review the summary of schema, timeliness, and quality checks. Use the Shown on consumer page toggle to control whether the data contract appears on the product’s Marketplace page. To validate the contract against the current data, click Verify now.

3. In the Ready-to-use assets section, review the linked dashboards, applications, or agents. If none are defined, an empty state notes that you can add them in Studio.

4. Click Continue.

Step 2: Approval and Access

On the Approval & access step, select the approval workflow, review the approvers, add an optional note, and set the listing visibility.

1. Under Approval workflow, use Select workflow to choose the approval workflow for this request. The available workflows are configured by your Marketplace Admin (see Configure Marketplace Approvals).

2. Under Approvers & required approvals, review the approvers and the number of required approvals.

3. (Optional) Under Note to reviewers, add context that helps the approvers review your submission.

4. Under Marketplace visibility, select one of the following:

   • Public: Visible to everyone in the Marketplace and with a link. Anyone can discover and request access.

   • Private & restricted: Only users with explicit permissions can view and edit the product. Listing the product on the Marketplace does not grant additional access.

   If you select Private & restricted and some approvers do not have permission to view the product, a warning appears (for example, “2 approvers can’t see this product and won’t be able to review it”). Click Grant access to give those approvers view permission.

5. Click Continue.

Step 3: Listing Details

On the Listing details step, review the Summary before you submit:

• Eval score: The latest evaluation score, or No evaluation run if the product has not been evaluated.

• Approval: The selected approval workflow, the approvers, and the number of required approvals.

• Data assets: The number of tables, columns, joins, and metrics in the listing.

Click Submit for review.

After You Submit

After you submit the request, a confirmation screen shows that the product has been sent to approvers and that you will be notified when it is approved and goes live. From this screen, you can:

• Click Go to Overview to return to the data product’s Overview page.

• Click Browse marketplace to open the Marketplace.

After submission:

• The Marketplace Status changes to Pending Listing.

• All Marketplace Admins designated as listing approvers receive an email notification.

At this stage, you wait for the required approval decisions.

Review and Decide on Listing Requests as a Marketplace Admin

• Access Pending Listing Requests

• Identify Products Awaiting Listing Approval

• Review and Make a Decision

• The Listing Approval Logic

Marketplace Admins who are designated approvers review and approve or deny listing requests.

Access Pending Listing Requests

1. Open the Data Products App from the left-side navigation.

2. Click Manage Marketplace.

3. If there are data products awaiting review, a blue banner with a Review button appears on the Overview tab.

4. Click Review. This opens the Data Products tab of the Marketplace Properties page.

   Note

   Alternatively, click the Data Products tab at the top of the Marketplace settings page.

5. In the Data Products table, select the Pending Approvals tab. Data products awaiting a decision appear here.

Identify Products Awaiting Listing Approval

• The Status column displays Listing Pending for data products awaiting approval.

• The Actions column (rightmost column) includes a Review link.

Review and Make a Decision

1. Click Review in the Actions column. The reviewer view of the data product opens.

2. Review:

   • All fields.

   • All configuration.

   • All buttons and settings.

3. In the blue banner at the top of the page, choose Approve Listing or Deny.

4. Provide approval or denial notes explaining the decision. Providing feedback is required in both cases.

5. Confirm by clicking:

   • Approve Listing, or

   • Deny

The Listing Approval Logic

• If you approve:

  • The listing moves toward approval.

  • The data product is listed only after the required number of approvers have approved.

• If you deny:

  • The request is denied only after the required number of approvers have denied.

If the required number of approvals is reached:

• The data product becomes Listed and visible on the Marketplace.

If the required number of denials is reached:

• The request is closed.

• The data product status becomes Listing Denied.

• The request appears under the Closed Requests tab of the Data Products table.

A Data Product Admin can then edit the data product, address feedback, and submit a new listing request.

Track Listing Statuses

Track Listing Statuses

Status	What It Means	What Happens in the System	What You Can Do Next
Unlisted	The data product is not available on the Marketplace.	The data product is accessible only to users who have been explicitly granted permissions. It is not visible to Marketplace consumers.	Complete configuration and click List in Marketplace to submit a listing request.
Pending Listing	A listing request has been submitted and is awaiting review.	The request is sent to designated Marketplace Admin approvers. The Marketplace Status shows Pending Listing. Email notifications are sent to approvers.	Wait for approval or denial. Monitor status or review logs if needed.
Listed	The data product is approved and published on the Marketplace.	The required number of approvals has been reached. The data product becomes visible to Marketplace consumers.	No further action required. Consumers can now discover and access the data product.
Listing Denied	The listing request was rejected.	The required number of denials has been reached. The request is closed and appears under the Closed Requests tab.	Review feedback in logs, update the data product, and submit a new listing request if needed.

View Listing and Approval Logs

You can review the history of listing decisions for both pending approvals and closed requests:

1. Go to Manage Marketplace.

2. Navigate to the Data Products tab.

3. In the Data Products table, select either Pending Approvals or Closed Requests.

4. In the Actions column, click Show Logs for the relevant data product.

A log dialog opens and displays:

• Who approved or denied the request.

• The feedback provided.

• The final outcome of the request.