Introduction
Ellie 7.0 introduces new concepts that reshaped your Ellie organization. Some of your assets had to be migrated to fit into our new folder system.
This guide will explain what has changed and how to use the new features.
Note: an asset is generic term for a model or a conceptual entity. In some cases a folder can be considered an asset.
Folders
All collections have been replaced by folders. You can no longer create collections but instead use the new folders structure. The main difference is that collections could only contain models. A folder can contain all type of assets: models, conceptual entities and sub-folders. Folders enable nested structures.
Organization folder
The new folder concept forces every assets to be part of a folder. Also, an asset can belong to only one folder.
To do so, a new folder has been created at the root of your Ellie environment called Organization.
Here is how existing assets have been migrated:
All the models that were not in a collection have been moved to the Organization folder.
All your collections have been upgraded to a folders and moved to the Organization folder.
All the entities of your organization glossary have also been moved to the Organization folder.
Note: Personal collections are still private and not included in the Organization folder.
All assets contained in the Organization folder tree are called public assets and are visible by all users.
Glossaries
Folders can now have their own conceptual entities. The subset of all the entities of a folder is called a glossary. A folder can only have one glossary.
Example:
We have a folder called Sales.
The folder Sales contains 2 entities: Customer and Product.
It is valid to say:
Customer is from the Sales glossary
Entity Customer is from the Sales folder
Customer and Product constitute the Sales glossary
Personal folder
Personal collections have also been upgraded to personal folders, with the exception that you cannot create sub-folders in your personal folder.
Conceptual entities of your personal folder constitute your personal glossary.
All assets contained in your personal folder are called personal assets and are private.
As a new feature, you can also directly use public entities in your personal models. Before, you had to make a copy of the public entity to your personal glossary.
Personal entities cannot be used in public models. Use Publish first.
You can share a personal asset with a link, write users will have edit rights.
Configuring your folder
Permission
You can configure the edit rights of your folder in the permission tab.
As a user, in a folder, you can be either:
an editor:
You can edit the folder
Name, description
Suggested glossaries
Permissions
You can create, edit, move, copy or share assets
or a restricted user:
The folder and its assets are read only
You cannot create, edit or move assets
You can copy, view or share assets
To define these role, you can choose one of 3 permission modes for the folder:
Open: All users are editors of the folder.
Restricted: Limits edit rights to selected users.
Editors: Specify users with editor privilege within the folder. Editors can also change the folder’s permissions and settings. Admins are always included in the editors.
Inherit (default): Inherits permission settings from the parent folder.
Note: if the parent folder’s permission settings are updated, the folder will inherit from the new settings.
Glossary
In the Glossary tab, you can customize glossary settings for the folder.
These features are for conceptual models and the other levels are unaffected.
Folder has own Glossary
If enabled (default):
You can create new entities to your folder and define its glossary.
If disabled:
Folder has no glossary
Prevent entities to be created or moved to the folder.
The folder will only have models and sub-folders.
When modeling:
you cannot create new entities from the model
you can only use existing entities from other glossaries
if you want to create a new entity, you need to create it first in another glossary.
Suggested Glossaries
You can promote certain glossaries and encourage users to reuse terms from those glossaries.
The suggested glossaries will appear first when searching for entities in conceptual model.
Only allow suggested glossaries
If you want to restrict entity suggestions strictly to the selected glossaries. This limits the entities shown in the Search or Create bar when modeling in this folder.
if enabled:
User can only use entities from own glossary or suggested glossaries.
Other glossaries will be hidden.
if disabled (default):
User can use all public entities.
This feature is exclusive to conceptual models.
Foreign entities
Glossaries are not meant to be exclusive to their folder. Instead, it is encouraged to reuse entities across different folders. An entity borrowed from an other glossary is called a foreign entity.
A foreign entity is not a copy, it is a reference to an entity from a foreign glossary.
As a consequence:
If a foreign entity is modified, the changes are directly brought to the original entity.
If an entity is modified, all foreign usage of that entity will be updated.
If you wish to update a foreign entity exclusively to your current folder (we call it specializing), use the Clone feature. It will replace the foreign entity with a new copy in your current glossary.
From public to personal
Any model or entity can by copied to your personal folder.
This can be useful for 2 reasons:
If you want to work on an asset without polluting it with work in progress.
Copy it to your personal folder
Make the updates
Publish it to the public folder
If you cannot edit an asset and want to suggest modification.
Copy it to your personal folder
Make the updates
Share your personal copy to an editor of the public asset
The editor can then review it and publish it to the public folder
Note:
About copying a conceptual model to your personal folder:
the entities are not replaced with personal copies
the model will keep the public entities as foreign entities
From personal to public
You can publish personal asset to a public folder.
There is 2 cases for Publish:
Your asset is an original creation, then you can select a destination folder.
Your asset is a copy of a public asset, then the publish flow is simplified to directly overwrite the public asset with your personal changes.
For more control, you can use the normal Copy feature.
Notes:
Copying a conceptual model to a public folder:
the personal entities are either:
replaced with a public homonym from the destination folder
if there is no homonym in the destination folder, then the personal entity is also published to the destination folder.
the foreign public entities do not need special action and are simply kept as is.
A published asset is simply a copy, so updating the public or personal asset will not propagate the changes to the other.
Migrating to Ellie 7.0 special case
In some cases not all entities have been move to the Organization folder.
If your organization was making use of restricted collections, the entities used in restricted models have also been moved to their respective restricted folder.
Important change as of Ellie 7.0 update
As part of the Ellie 7.0 release, Ellie is transitioning from using Collections to a more structured and hierarchical system known as Folders. This change enhances the organization, management, and accessibility of models and glossaries within the platform.
Understanding Folders
Folders in Ellie serve as containers that allow you to group models and glossaries systematically. Unlike the previous tag-based Collections, Folders support a multi-level hierarchy, enabling the creation of subfolders to mirror your organization's structure or project needs.
Video overview of the functionality - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_y_Ex0PULo
Key Features of Folders:
Hierarchical Organization: Create nested folders to represent various domains, projects, or departments, facilitating intuitive navigation and management.
Dedicated Sub-glossaries: Each folder can have its own glossary, known as a sub-glossary, allowing for domain-specific definitions while maintaining access to the organization-wide glossaries.
Access Control: Set permissions at the folder level to control who can edit the contents, ensuring security and proper governance.
Types of Folders:
Organization Folder: is the central workspace in Ellie where all shared assets are stored and managed. It serves as the main repository accessible to the entire organization.
Subfolders: are nested folders within the Organization Folder or other subfolders, enabling a hierarchical structure that aligns with specific domains, projects, or departments. Each subfolder can have its own sub-glossary for domain-specific terms while still allowing access to organization-wide glossaries. Permissions are inherited from parent folders but can be customized as needed. By default each folder has its own glossary enabled.
Personal folder: is a private space for individual users to draft, experiment, and refine models before sharing them with the broader organization. Users can copy assets from public folders, work on them privately, and publish finalized versions to public folders. Additionally, assets in the Personal Folder can be shared with admins or write-access users for review and publishing on the user's behalf.
Creating and Managing Folders
Create a new folder
Navigate to the Parent Folder: Access the folder under which you want to create a new subfolder.
Click on the Create Button: Select the option to create a new folder.
Save the Folder: Once configured, save the folder to add it to your hierarchy.
Folder Settings
When creating or editing a folder, you can configure specific settings across three tabs: General, Glossary, and Permission.
General Tab
The General tab allows you to set the basic details for the folder:
Folder Name: Enter the name of the folder.
Description: Add an optional description to provide context or information about the folder's purpose.
Glossary Tab
In the Glossary tab, you can customize glossary settings for the folder:
Folder has own Glossary: Toggle this option to enable a unique glossary for the folder. When enabled, this glossary will contain terms specific to the folder's models, without affecting the organization-wide glossary.
If own Glossary is disabled you won’t be able to create new glossary entities when modeling and will have to exclusively reuse existing entities from other glossaries.
Note: by default the folder always has “own Glossary“ enabled.Suggested Glossaries: Select glossaries from other folders that you want to suggest first when modeling within this folder. Suggested glossaries provide additional terms without merging with the folder’s own glossary.
Restrict Glossary Suggestions: Toggle Only allow suggested glossaries if you want to restrict entity suggestions strictly to the selected glossaries. This limits the entities shown in the Search or Create bar when modeling in this folder, ensuring that only terms from allowed glossaries appear.
Permission Tab
The Permission tab controls access to the folder and its contents:
Access Rights: Choose one of three access levels for the folder:
Inherit: Inherits access settings from the parent folder.
Note: if the parent folder’s access settings are updated, the folder will inherit from the new settings.
Open: Allows all users to edit the folder.
Restricted: Limits edit right to selected users.
Editors: Specify users who can edit and create assets within the folder. Editors can also change the folder’s permissions and settings. Admins are always included in the editors.
These settings give you control over how folders and glossaries are managed, helping to organize data and maintain security based on project needs.
Note: the root level Organization folder settings are not inherited to it’s child folder
Moving and Copying Models and Entities Between Folders
Ellie allows you to move or copy models and entities between folders seamlessly, without disrupting their functionality. This flexibility makes it easy to organize assets or collaborate by shifting items across folders as needed.
Moving Models
To move a model to a different folder:
Locate the model: Open the folder and locate the model
Context Menu: Left-click on the model’s actions (triple-dot menu).
Select Move and choose the target folder.
Moving Entities
To move an entity to another folder:
Find the Entity: Locate the entity by browsing folders, viewing it in a model, or using search.
Open the Entity: Click to open the entity details.
Context Menu: Click on the entity’s actions (triple-dot menu), select Move, and choose the target folder.
Select Destination Folder: In the move settings, select the destination folder where you’d like to move the entity.
Copying Models and Entities
The process to copy models or entities is similar to moving them, but instead of selecting Move, you will select Copy. This action creates a duplicate of the asset in the target folder, leaving the original in its current location.
To copy a model or entity:
Context Menu: Click on the actions (triple-dot menu) for the model or entity.
Select Copy and choose the destination folder.
Additional Notes
Foreign Entities: When an entity is moved to a new folder, it will appear as a foreign entity in any models that referenced it from the original location. Foreign entities are displayed in italic font and will show their originating folder when hovered over.
Preserving Relationships: Moving or copying entities between folders doesn’t break existing models or relationships. Foreign entities maintain their associations, ensuring data consistency across models.
Publishing Workflow with Personal Folders: You can copy assets to your Personal Folder to work privately or make adjustments. Once ready, you can publish these assets to a public folder, or share them with an admin or write-access user for review and publishing on your behalf.
This approach to moving and copying allows for flexible organization and collaboration, keeping all references and relationships intact while supporting both private and shared workspace
Note: Moving entities between folders does not break existing models; it ensures that entities remain accessible and maintain their relationships across the platform.
Personal Folder
The Personal Folder in Ellie functions as a private workspace where you can develop models and entities before making them available to the broader organization. This feature is similar to how Personal Collections were used in the past but with added flexibility for sharing and publishing.
Key Features of the Personal Folder
Copying Assets to the Personal Folder
You can copy existing models or entities from public folders into your personal folder. This allows you to work on your own version of an asset without affecting the original.
Any modifications you make in the personal folder are isolated, enabling you to experiment and refine models or entities privately.
Publishing Assets to Public Folders
Once you’re satisfied with an asset in your personal folder, you can publish it to a public folder where you have write access. This makes the asset accessible to other users within the organization, helping to ensure that your work is leveraged by others.
When you publish a personal conceptual model, any personal entities will be published as new entity in the destination glossary.
Collaborative Publishing with Admins or Write-Access Users
You can share specific assets of your personal folder with an admin or a write user by sharing a link. When shared, they can view and evaluate your work directly from your personal folder and collaborate with you.
If the shared user decides the asset is valuable, they can publish it on your behalf to a public folder, streamlining the process of promoting individual work to a broader audience.
How to Use Your Personal Folder
Copying to Personal Folder:
Follow the same workflow as with the normal asset copying workflow and select your Personal Folder as the destination.
Publishing to a Public Folder:
Open the asset in your personal folder.
Select Publish and choose the destination public folder where you want the asset to appear.
If the asset was previously copied from a public space the publish workflow will provide the destination name and folder to where the asset should be published and update the previous version.
Sharing with Admins or Write-Access Users:
Open the asset in your personal folder and select the Share button from the triple-dot (advanced actions) menu of the asset.
Copy the link of the asset.
Share it with the user you’d like to check your asset.
The shared user can then open the asset and, if they approve, publish it directly to a public folder.
The personal folder thus serves as a sandbox for developing and refining models or entities. With the ability to publish and collaborate, it allows you to contribute to the organization’s resources while retaining control over your drafts. This flexibility ensures that high-quality assets reach the public folders, benefiting the entire team.
By adopting the Folder system, Ellie offers a more robust and flexible approach to organizing and managing your data models and glossaries, aligning with modern data governance practices. If you have any questions about this functionality, please, reach out to support@ellie.ai.