Propagate Curated Values Through Object Hierarchy (Beta)

Alation Cloud Service Applies to Alation Cloud Service instances of Alation

Note

This feature is available as a beta release starting with version 2025.1.5.

Overview

In Alation Cloud Service instances with the New User Experience, users can apply a curated value from supported fields on a parent object to the same fields on its child objects. This capability is called curation propagation through object hierarchy.

Curation propagation helps accelerate curation efforts by automatically updating the values in the child objects to match the parent object’s field values. This helps ensure curation consistency across the object hierarchy.

For example, you may want to add a custom field to a table to indicate it’s categorized as Sensitive and can use curation propagation to mark all the child column objects as Sensitive too.

For information on custom fields, see Manage Custom Fields.

Prerequisite

Enable the feature flag Enable Curation Propagation Through Hierarchy on your instance:

• Who can enable it?

  • A Server Admin controls the availability of the feature.

• Where is the Enable Curation Propagation Through Hierarchy feature flag located?

  • In Admin Settings > Feature Configuration.

Supported Roles

Users with the roles of Server Admin, Catalog Admin, Source Admin, Composer, and Steward and having Edit access to an object can use this feature.

Users with the Explorer and Viewer roles don’t have access to curation propagation.

Object Types Eligible for Curation Propagation

Currently, this feature is supported for table object types.

Propagate a Curated Value

To propagate curation information through the object hierarchy:

1. Open the catalog page of the parent object that contains the value you want to propagate (for example, a table object).

2. In the top-right corner, click the three-dots menu to open the list of available actions.

3. Toggle Activate Propagation to On.

   

4. When propagation is enabled, a Propagation Mode “chip” appears on the object’s page. The chip indicates that curation propagation is supported and active for that object.

   

   Note

   • Propagation Mode is applicable only for the current view of the page. If you access another object or reload the page, the Propagation Mode will be reset and you will need to activate it again.

   • There is no option to enable propagation for all objects. This design prevents accidental propagation and ensures that control remains with the users who can decide whether values should be propagated.

5. With the Propagation Mode enabled, any edits you make to fields that support propagation will trigger a confirmation dialog.

   • In the dialog, choose whether to Add or Replace values in the child objects (see Supported Propagation Operations by Field Type).

   • For fields that only support the Replace option, proceed with applying the changes.

     

   Note

   • Propagate only after reviewing the changes since the changes can’t be rolled back.

   • Navigating away from the current page after confirming or applying propagation doesn’t impact the propagation of the values. The process runs asynchronously and completes in the background.

Propagate Removal of Values in the Parent Object

When the Propagation Mode is enabled for an object and you remove a value from a field, you will be presented a confirmation dialog.

In the dialog, select an appropriate action.

Good to Know

• Propagation Mode is only active for the current page view and does not persist across page reloads.

• The propagation action can be rolled back by making changes individually in each child object.

• After propagation completes successfully, a confirmation message is displayed on the same page where you approved it.

  

Fields on the Catalog Page That Support Propagation

Fields That Support Propagation

• Steward

• Trust Flag

• All custom fields (refer to Supported Propagation Operations by Field Type)

Fields That Don’t Support Propagation

• Title

• Top Users

• Description

• Domain (because Domain already supports propagation through Domain Materialization)

Supported Propagation Operations by Field Type

Refer to the table below to understand which operations are supported.

• Add: Refers to the operation that adds a new value to the existing values in the child objects.

• Remove: Refers to the operation where the value removed from the current object is also removed from its child objects.

• Replace: Refers to the operation that replaces the existing value in the child objects, with the value added or updated to the current object.

Field Type	Propagation mode
Text	Replace
Date	Replace
Picker	Replace
Rich Text	Replace
Object Set	Add, Remove, Replace
Multi-Select Picker	Add, Remove, Replace