How data sources sync

In Data Access, synchronization is the process of synchronizing entities such as data objects, accounts, groups, and access controls. You set the synchronization schedule when you add a data source to Data Access. By default, Data Access runs a full synchronization daily at midnight.

Note Data Access automatically synchronizes access controls that you create or edit in Data Access in near real time—regardless of the synchronization schedule.

What happens during a full sync

During a full data source synchronization:

After the first full synchronization, you can see within Data Access who has access to what. You can override the global schedule by setting a custom schedule for individual synchronization tasks. For example, you can configure specific synchronization tasks to run more frequently, or disable them completely. If you do not want to wait for the scheduled synchronization to see the data, you can manually start a synchronization.

How sync is triggered

Synchronization can be triggered in the following ways.

Sync trigger Description
Scheduled

Automatically triggered based on the synchronization schedule that is set in the data source.

Manual Manually triggered by clicking the Sync now button on the data source page.
Immediate

Automatically triggered whenever an access control is created or updated in Data Access so that the new or updated access control is pushed to the underlying data source.

Available sync tasks

The following synchronization tasks are available so that you can set granular schedules for specific entities, or manually start a targeted synchronization.

Sync task Description
Data object sync Pulls all data objects (such as databases, schemas, tables, and columns) from the data source into Data Access.
Identity sync Pulls all accounts from the data source into Data Access. Data Access automatically links the imported accounts to existing identities based on matching email addresses.
Access from target sync Pulls all access controls and groups from the data source into Data Access.
Access to target sync Pushes all access controls that are managed in Collibra from Data Access to the data source.
Note Not all of the aforementioned synchronization tasks are available for all data sources. For example, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, and GCP operate as identity stores and do not contain data objects. For these data sources, only the Access from target sync (for importing groups) and Identity sync tasks are available.

Related topics

Change sync schedule or start sync