About Data Classification

Data intelligence goes beyond just registering a data source. To get the most out of it, you need to classify data and connect it to other nodes in the Data Intelligence knowledge graph. Data classification helps you understand the types of data you have and where it's located. By assigning a data class, such as name, phone number, or web browser, to Column assets, you add context to your data.

Tip Data Classification is only the first step in getting a better view on your data. The next step is often to clearly identify columns that contain specific data categories, such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Protected Health Information (PHI). For this reason, Collibra Data Classification provides an automated data category association tool. This tool can automatically create a relation between a Column asset and a Data Category asset based on the classification of the column. For more information, go to About automatic Data Category association via Data Classification.

Data classification can be done manually or automatically.

• Manual data classification means that you assign a data class to a column.
• Automatic data classification is a feature that can analyze the data in your data source and suggest a data class for that data, without needing human input. It does this by analyzing a subset of the data itself. You can then choose to accept or reject the suggested data class manually or automatically.

  Note Automatic data classification looks only at structured data. Unstructured data is out of scope.