Governance Engine¶
A governance engine provides services that automate governance activities - from validating that the digital landscape is operating correctly, ensuring metadata is complete and correct to performing scheduled maintenance. Its capability is implemented by a collection of related governance services.
There are ten types of governance services. Related governance services are packaged together in a specific type of governance engine and enabled in one or more Engine Host OMAG Servers. They run in the appropriate Open Metadata Engine Service (OMES) as shown in the table below.
| Governance Service | Description | Governance Engine type | Engine Service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey Action Service | Analyses the content of an Asset's real-world counterpart (digital resource) in the digital landscape. (For example, if the asset describes a file, the survey action service analyses the data stored in the file). Results of the analysis are stored in a Survey Report | Survey Action Engine | Survey Action OMES |
| Watchdog Governance Service | Monitors changes to open metadata elements and when certain changes occur (such as the creation of a new Asset) the watchdog service requests action from other governance services by creating either an Engine Action, a Governance Action Process or an Incident Report. | Governance Action Engine | Governance Action OMES |
| Verification Governance Service | Tests the properties of specific open metadata elements to ensure they are set up correctly or do not indicate a situation where governance activity is required. The results returned from the verification service can be used to trigger other governance services as part of a Governance Action Process. | Governance Action Engine | Governance Action OMES |
| Triage Governance Service | Makes decisions on how to handle a specific situation or incident. Often this involves a human decision maker. | Governance Action Engine | Governance Action OMES |
| Remediation Governance Service | Corrects errors in open metadata or the digital landscape it represents. | Governance Action Engine | Governance Action OMES |
| Provisioning Governance Service | Configuring, enabling, provisioning resources in the digital landscape. Often these provisioning services manage the cataloguing of new assets and the lineage between them. | Governance Action Engine | Governance Action OMES |
| General Governance Action Service | Some form of governance activity. | Governance Action Engine | Governance Action OMES |
| Context Event Service | Event management around Context Event. | Context Event Engine | Context Event OMES |
| Repository Governance Service | Performs governance for open metadata repositories such as dynamically maintaining open metadata archives. | Repository Governance Engine | Repository Governance OMES |
When a governance engine is called, it is passed a governance request type and request parameters. This is mapped to a call to a governance service through the governance engine definition.
The structure of a governance engine definition includes a list of governance request types. Each governance request type, along with optional request parameters, are linked to a governance service definition. This indicates which governance service to call when the governance request type is used on a call to the governance engine. The associated request parameters provide default values for the request parameters passed to the governance service when it is invoked. The request parameters can be added to and overridden by the caller. The governance request type and request parameters indicate to the governance service what its action should be.
The unique name of the governance engine defined in the governance engine definition is added to the Engine Host Services configuration. When the engine host starts up the OMES, it reads the governance engine definition from its partner metadata access server to complete its initialization. The engine host monitors changes in the governance engine definition so the services within the governance engine can be dynamically maintained.
Calls to the governance engine are made by creating engine actions in the open metadata ecosystem. The engine host is monitoring for new engine actions for the governance engine. When one occurs, it claims the engine action and passes on the request to the governance engine to run. The claim process is used since there may be multiple engine hosts running that governance engine and only one of them should process the request.
An engine action can be created anywhere in the open metadata ecosystem. The result is an event that is passed via its connected metadata access server to the engine host. If the request is for a governance engine that it is hosting, the engine host claims the governance action and passes the request to the governance engine.
Further information
Each governance engine has a unique name. A governance engine definition for this unique name is either created through the Governance Server OMAS API or as part of a governance engine pack. The governance engine is configured in the engine host using this unique name.
The open metadata types for this definition are in model 0461 - Governance Engines - specifically notice Governance Engine and GovernanceService linked by the SupportedGovernanceService relationship.
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