Import and export scenarios
The import and export capabilities of IBM® InfoSphere® Information Governance Catalog can be useful in a variety of situations. The file format you choose will depend on the scenario.
Add or modify any type of glossary asset
Use the XML format to modify any property of a glossary asset. You modify properties in an XML file by editing the file with any software program that can make changes to text files. You can also use an XML file to transfer information from some other system to InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog. For example:
- Modify glossary assets with a text editor or XML editor
- Export the glossary, or parts of it, to an XML file and use a text editor or XML editor to modify glossary assets, then import the changes. You can take advantage of search and replace and other advanced features of the editing program to make many changes quickly.
- Initially populate the glossary with glossary assets from an external system
- If your enterprise has glossary assets in a proprietary database, a programmer can write a program that extracts content from the proprietary database and writes it to an XML file that conforms to the InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog glossary schema.
Transfer glossary assets from one InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog environment to another
Use the XMI file format to save the glossary assets and transfer it among different computer environments. This format creates a glossary archive.
- Make changes to your glossary in a test environment before releasing to production
- You have one instance of IBM InfoSphere Information Server for production and a second instance for testing. You want to change critical data and test those changes before you deploy them in the production environment. You can export your glossary metadata from the production server and import it to the test server. After you make all changes to the metadata on the test server, export the changes to a glossary archive file and then import that file to the production server.
- Move or upgrade systems
- If you move your InfoSphere Information Server to a different physical server, or upgrade the operating system on the existing server, you can use the glossary archive export and import process to move your glossary metadata to the new instance. The import and export process is supported across different operating systems and different database types and versions. You can also use the glossary archive format to transfer glossary assets from one computer environment to another.
Add or modify some types of glossary assets from a spreadsheet
Use the CSV file format if you need a file format that is easy to view and work with, but do not need to modify all types of properties. The CSV file can be displayed by a spreadsheet program. For example:
- Initially populate the glossary
- Use the sample CSV file provided as a template and enter terms and categories in a spreadsheet. Import the file into InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog to populate the glossary with terms and categories. You can now add more properties to the terms and categories by using InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog.
- Modify glossary assets
- If you export existing glossary assets into a CSV file, you can open the file in a spreadsheet program and view terms, categories, information governance policies, information governance rules and their properties in spreadsheet rows and columns. You can edit this file to make changes and import it back into InfoSphere Information Governance Catalog.