# Create and manage business glossaries
Business glossaries let you define a shared vocabulary for your organization's data. A glossary is a collection of terms, each with a name, description, and optional documentation. For example, you might create a glossary called "Revenue Metrics" with terms like "ARR," "MRR," and "Net Revenue Retention," each with a precise definition of how the metric is calculated, what data sources feed into it, and how it should be interpreted. Once created, these terms can be attached to tables and columns during metadata curation. When someone browses the catalog and sees a column tagged with "ARR," they can choose the term and read the exact definition rather than guessing what it means. This is especially valuable when different teams use the same words to mean different things, or when abbreviations and acronyms are common in column names.
The **Business glossaries** page in the admin portal shows all glossaries in the domain. Each glossary card shows the glossary name, description, creation date, term count, and a preview of the terms it contains. You can search across glossaries and terms using the search bar, use the **View by** dropdown to switch between viewing by **Glossary** or by **Term**.
## Create a glossary
**To create a glossary**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose **Create glossary**.
1. For **Name**, enter a name for the glossary (for example, "Compliance Standards" or "Revenue Metrics").
1. For **Description**, enter a description that explains what this glossary covers and when to use it. This field is optional but recommended.
1. Choose **Create glossary**.
The glossary detail page opens, showing the glossary name, description, creation date, an **Actions** menu, and an empty terms table. Glossaries are created in an **Enabled** state by default. See [Enable or disable a glossary](#catalog-iam-enable-disable-glossary) for details on what the enabled state controls and how to change it.
## Edit a glossary
**To edit a glossary**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary you want to edit.
1. Choose **Actions**, then choose **Edit**.
1. Update the name or description.
1. Choose **Save**.
## Enable or disable a glossary
Each glossary has an **Enabled** toggle on its detail page. When a glossary is enabled, it appears as an available option when someone adds a Business glossary field type to a metadata form (see [Add a field to a form](catalog-iam-metadata-forms.md#catalog-iam-add-field-form)). Its enabled terms can also be attached to assets during metadata curation. When a glossary is disabled, it cannot be added to new forms and its terms cannot be attached to new assets. Disabling a glossary does not remove it from forms or assets where it is already in use.
Individual terms also have an **Enabled** toggle. See [Enable or disable a term](#catalog-iam-enable-disable-term) in the Glossary terms section for details.
**To enable or disable a glossary**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary you want to enable or disable.
1. On the glossary detail page, toggle the **Enabled** switch.
## Delete a glossary
Before you can delete a glossary, you must first disable it and remove all of its terms. See [Delete a term](#catalog-iam-delete-term) for the steps to remove individual terms.
**To delete a glossary**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary you want to delete.
1. Delete all terms in the glossary (see [Delete a term](#catalog-iam-delete-term)).
1. Choose **Actions**, then choose **Delete**.
1. Confirm the deletion.
**Note**
You cannot delete a glossary that is still enabled or contains terms. Disable the glossary and remove all terms first.
## Glossary terms
Terms are the individual entries within a glossary. Each term has a name, description, and an optional README where you can add detailed documentation using Markdown. Terms can be enabled or disabled independently of the parent glossary, giving you control over which terms are available for use.
The glossary detail page shows all terms in a table with columns for the term name, description, status (enabled or disabled), and a delete action.
### Create a term
**To create a term**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary where you want to add the term.
1. Choose **Create term**.
1. For **Name**, enter the term name (for example, "GDPR" or "Annual Recurring Revenue").
1. For **Description**, enter a definition that explains what this term means and how it should be interpreted. This field is optional but recommended.
1. The **Enabled** toggle is on by default. Turn it off if you want to finalize the term before making it available.
1. Choose **Create term**.
The term detail page opens, showing the term name, description, creation date, a link back to the parent glossary, the **Enabled** toggle, an **Actions** menu, a **README** section, and a **Terms relationships** section.
### Edit a term
**To edit a term**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary that contains the term.
1. Choose the term you want to edit.
1. Choose **Actions**, then choose **Edit**.
1. Update the name or description.
1. Choose **Save**.
### Add a README to a term
Each term has a README section where you can add documentation using Markdown syntax. This is useful for providing detailed context that goes beyond the short description, such as calculation methodology, data sources, or usage guidelines. The README supports up to 4,096 characters and includes a side-by-side preview so you can see how the formatted content will look.
**To add a README to a term**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary that contains the term.
1. Choose the term.
1. In the **README** section, choose **Edit**.
1. Enter your documentation using Markdown syntax.
1. Choose **Save**.
### Enable or disable a term
Each term has an **Enabled** toggle on its detail page. When a term is enabled, it can be attached to assets during metadata curation. When disabled, it cannot be attached to new assets but remains on any assets where it was previously attached.
**To enable or disable a term**
1. On the glossary detail page, choose the term you want to enable or disable.
1. On the term detail page, toggle the **Enabled** switch.
### Delete a term
You can delete a term from the glossary detail page or from the term detail page.
From the glossary detail page, choose the delete icon (trash) in the **Actions** column next to the term you want to remove.
From the term detail page, follow these steps.
**To delete a term from the term detail page**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary that contains the term.
1. Choose the term you want to delete.
1. Turn off the **Enabled** toggle (you must disable a term before deleting it).
1. Choose **Actions**, then choose **Delete**.
1. Confirm the deletion.
**Note**
You must disable a term before you can delete it. Turn off the **Enabled** toggle on the term detail page first. The term must also not be attached to any assets or have any term relationships. Remove all asset associations and term relationships before deleting.
### Term relationships
You can define relationships between terms to show how they relate to each other. Relationships use a parent-child model with two types. **Is A Type of** means the current term is a more specific version of the related term. **Has Types** means the current term is a broader category that includes the related term. For example, if you set "Credit Card" as "Is A Type of" "Payment Method," then Payment Method automatically shows Credit Card under its "Has Types" relationships. Relationships are always bidirectional in this way.
Relationships can be created between terms in the same glossary or across different glossaries. A term can have a maximum of 10 relationships per relationship type, and a term can be attached to a maximum of 10 assets.
**To add a term relationship**
1. Navigate to Amazon SageMaker Unified Studio and choose **Domain management** to open the admin portal.
1. In the left navigation pane under **Catalog**, choose **Business glossaries**.
1. Choose the glossary that contains the term, then choose the term.
1. In the **Terms relationships** section, choose **Add terms**.
1. In the **Add term relationships** panel, for **Relationship**, choose **Is A Type of** or **Has Types**.
1. Use the search bar to find the term you want to relate to. You can also use the **Filter by glossary** dropdown to narrow results to a specific glossary.
1. Select the checkbox next to one or more terms.
1. Choose **Add terms** to confirm your selection.
1. In the **Manage term relationships** panel, review the relationships and choose **Save changes**.
To edit or remove existing relationships, choose **Edit** in the **Terms relationships** section on the term detail page. This opens the **Manage term relationships** panel where you can remove relationships using the delete icon or add new ones using the **Add terms** button.