Field notice: Upcoming changes to glossary and catalog instantiation defaults
This field notice is to inform you of an upcoming platform change that may affect how Collections (Catalogs) and Business Terms (Glossaries) are managed within the data.world environment.
Important
This change requires action on your part to ensure your existing configurations continue to behave as expected. Please review the What You Need to Do section for detailed guidance specific to your setup.
🔄 What is changing
Starting Tuesday, June 10th, 2025, data.world is introducing enhanced configurability for how certain resource types can be created (instantiated) in the platform.
This change affects the default instantiation behavior for Business Terms (Glossaries) and Collections (Catalogs) — providing greater control over which types users can manually create via the UI or API.
📌 Current behavior (before the change)
Business Terms (Glossary types):
All types and subtypes are instantiable by default.
This cannot be configured today.
Any user with the appropriate permissions can create resources of these types via the UI or API.
Collections (Catalog types):
All types and subtypes are instantiable by default.
This cannot be configured today.
Any user with the appropriate permissions can create resources of these types via the UI or API.
🚀 New behavior (effective June 10)
Business Terms:
Only the base Business Term type is instantiable by default.
Subtypes are not instantiable unless explicitly configured to be.
To retain current behavior, you can explicitly declare the base type instantiable, which will make all subtypes instantiable as well.
Collections (Catalog types):
Only the base Collection type is instantiable by default.
Subtypes are not instantiable unless explicitly configured to be.
As with Business Terms, explicitly marking the base type as instantiable will make all subtypes instantiable, preserving current behavior.
🎯 Why This Matters
This update gives you more granular control over your metadata model. You can now:
Govern which metadata types users can create manually.
Restrict certain types to be managed only via automated processes like collectors.
Preserve current workflows by explicitly setting Instantiability where needed.
For example, if you use glossary subtypes like Metric and Abbreviation, you could allow users to create new Metric terms in the UI while keeping Abbreviation restricted to back-end processes only.
🌐 Looking Ahead: New Collection Subtypes
This update also paves the way for an upcoming platform enhancement. Soon, data.world will introduce three new standard Collection subtypes.
Domain
Source Collection
Glossary Collection
These will be available in your environment by default, but — thanks to the new instantiation controls — you will be able to selectively enable or disable their visibility and Instantiability for end users.
🛠 How data.world is supporting you during this change
To ensure a smooth transition, we are taking the following steps to help you maintain your current workflows.
✅ For customers using CTK (Catalog Toolkit)
We will update your CTK configuration to explicitly mark your existing Glossary and Catalog types as instantiable.
This ensures there will be no change in behavior for your current environment after the release.
You will now have full control over instantiation settings within CTK for both base types and subtypes.
The Ability to create in the UI setting in CTK will now apply to subtypes of Business Term and Collection.
Setting this to Prohibit UI creation will be respected at the subtype level.
📄 For customers not using CTK
We are preparing a dedicated TTL configuration file that will:
Preserve your current instantiable behavior for Glossary and Catalog types.
Explicitly declare the appropriate base types as instantiable to mimic current behavior.
Our team will:
Reach out directly with specific instructions on how to apply the TTL file.
Provide hands-on support as needed to ensure a smooth configuration process.
📋 What you need to do
To ensure your environment continues to function as expected after this change, here are the steps you need to take based on your setup.
✅ If you are using CTK (Catalog Toolkit)
Review your Metadata Profile Configuration to ensure:
Glossary (Business Term) and Collection types are explicitly configured as instantiable, if that is your desired behavior.
Prior to the release on June 10th, 2025, you will need to:
Sync your TTL files in both your Catalog-Sandbox and Main environments. You should see no change in behavior.
After the release on June 10th, 2025, you will need to:
Confirm that instantiation settings (such as Prohibit UI creation) are applied as expected, especially for subtypes.
No other action is required — your configuration will control the behavior fully.
📄 If you are not using CTK
You don’t need to make changes immediately!
We will:
Provide you with a TTL configuration file that preserves your current instantiable behavior.
Offer guidance and support on how to apply this configuration in your environment.
Watch for direct communication from our team with instructions tailored to your setup.
💡Need help?
Need help determining if you are using CTK or how to sync TTLs or have any questions or concern about this change? Contact your Customer Success Manager or the data.world support team.