## Create governance workflows

URL: https://docs.atlan.com/product/capabilities/governance/stewardship/how-tos/create-governance-workflows

> :::warning Who can do this? You must be an [admin user](/product/capabilities/governance/access-control/how-tos/delegate-administration) in Atlan to [enable](/.

Atlan runs governance as no-code workflows—templated, multi-step approvals that route metadata changes to the right owners.

:::warning Who can do this?
 You must be an [admin user](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/access-control/delegate-administration/llms.txt) in Atlan to [enable](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt), create, and [manage](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/manage-governance-workflows/llms.txt) governance workflows.

:::

Atlan provides no-code governance workflow templates with predefined steps. To create a [governance workflow](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt), complete the following steps.

## Create a governance workflow

To create a governance workflow:

1. In your Atlan workspace, click **Settings** from the left menu and then click **Settings**.
2. Under the _Governance workflow_ heading, click **Governance workflow**.

 If you are using the **Old UI (Classic)**, from the left menu of any screen, click **Governance**, then under the _Governance_ heading of the _Governance center_, click **Governance workflows**.
3. Click the **\+ Workflow** button to create a new governance workflow.

## Select a workflow template

To select a workflow template:

1. From the _Create new workflow_ menu, select the workflow template best suited to your use case:
 - [_Change management_](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt)
 - [_New entity creation_](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt)
 - [_Access management_](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt)
 - [_Policy approval_](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt) - if [policy center module is enabled](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-policy-compliance/llms.txt)
2. In the upper right of the screen, click the **Use template** button to begin.
3. In the _New workflow_ dialog, enter the following details:
 1. For _Name_, enter a meaningful name for your workflow.
 2. (Optional) For _Description_, enter a brief description of your workflow.
 3. (Optional) Select an icon to represent your workflow.
 4. Click **Create** to create your workflow.

## Select the scope of workflow

Governance workflows must either be associated with assets, including data products, or certain actions in Atlan. If a user submits an access or update request, your workflow will be triggered to provision access or approve the update request, respectively. 

To select assets for the scope of your workflow:

1. For _When assets match rules_, define the scope of your workflow to specific assets.
2. To set a matching condition for the filters, select **Match all** or **Match any**. _Match all_ will logically `AND` the criteria, while _Match any_ will logically `OR` the criteria.
3. For _Attributes_, select a relevant option:
 - Click **Connection** and then select an existing connection. (Optional) To further refine your asset selection:
 1. Click **All databases** to filter by databases in a selected connection.
 2. Click **All schemas** to filter by schemas in a selected connection.
 - Click **Connector** to filter assets by [supported connectors](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/connector-capabilities/supported-sources/llms.txt).
 - Click **Asset type** to filter by specific asset types - for example, tables, columns, queries, glossaries, and more.
 - Click **Certificate** to filter assets by [certification status](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/add-certificates/llms.txt).
 - Click **Owners** to filter assets by [asset owners](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/add-owners/llms.txt).
 - Click **Tags** to filter assets by your [tags](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/tags/what-are-tags/llms.txt) in Atlan, including imported [Snowflake](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/snowflake/manage-snowflake-tags/llms.txt) and [dbt](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/dbt/manage-dbt-tags/llms.txt) tags. 
 - Click **Business Graph, terms, & categories** to filter by a specific [glossary](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/glossary/set-up-glossaries/llms.txt) or [category](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/glossary/what-is-a-glossary/llms.txt) to bulk update all the nested terms or by multiple glossaries and categories.
 - Click **Linked terms** to filter assets by [linked terms](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/glossary/link-terms-to-assets/llms.txt).
 - Click **Schema qualified Name** to filter assets by the qualified name of a given schema.
 - Click **Database qualified Name** to filter assets by the qualified name of a given database.
 - Click **dbt** to filter assets by dbt-specific filters and then select a [dbt Cloud](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/dbt/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-dbt-cloud/llms.txt) or [dbt Core](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/dbt/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-dbt-core/llms.txt) filter.
 - Click **Properties** to filter assets by [common asset properties](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/use-the-filters-menu/llms.txt).
 - Click **Usage** to filter assets by [usage metrics](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/usage-and-popularity/find-assets-by-usage/llms.txt).
 - Click **Monte Carlo** to filter assets by [Monte Carlo-specific filters](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/monte-carlo/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-monte-carlo/llms.txt).
 - Click **Soda** to filter assets by [Soda-specific filters](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/soda/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-soda/llms.txt).
 - Click **Table/View** to filter tables or views by row count, column count, or size.
 - Click **Column** to filter columns by [column-specific filters](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/use-the-filters-menu/llms.txt), including parent asset type or name, data type, or [column keys](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/connector-capabilities/column-keys-crawled/llms.txt).
 - Click **Process** to filter [lineage processes](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/lineage/what-are-processes/llms.txt) by the SQL query.
 - Click **Query** to filter assets by associated [visual queries](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/insights/query-data/llms.txt).
 - Click **Measure** to filter [Microsoft Power BI measures](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/connectors/microsoft-power-bi/what-does-atlan-crawl-from-microsoft-power-bi/llms.txt) using the external measures filter.
4. For _Operator_, select **Is one of** for values to include or **Is not** for values to exclude. Depending on the selected attribute(s), you can also choose from [additional operators](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/use-the-filters-menu/llms.txt):
 - Select **Equals (=)** or **Not Equals (!=)** to include or exclude assets through exact match search.
 - Select **Starts With** or **Ends With** to filter assets using the starting or ending sequence of values.
 - Select **Contains** or **Does not contain** to find assets with or without specified values contained within the attribute.
 - Select **Pattern** to filter assets using supported [Elastic DSL regular expressions](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/references/current/regexp-syntax.html).
 - Select **Is empty** to filter assets with null values.
5. For _Values_, select the relevant values. The values will vary depending on the selected attributes.
6. (Optional) To add more filters, click **Add filter** and select **Filter** to add individual filters or **Filter** **Group** to nest more filters in a group.
7. (Optional) To view all the assets that match your rules, click **View** for a preview.
8. At the bottom of the form, click the **Save &** **Continue** button.

## (Optional) Conditional Branching 

Conditional branching enables you to define dynamic paths within governance workflows based on specific rules. Each branch can have its own set of conditions, approvers, forms, and auto-approval settings. Conditional branching is currently supported only for the [Change Management](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/create-governance-workflows/llms.txt) and [New Entity Creation](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/create-governance-workflows/llms.txt) workflow templates.

### Change Management Template

- Condition based on Metadata Attribute Type
- Apply approval logic only when specific metadata attributes are changed (e.g., tags, owners, certificates).
- Enable up to 10 conditional branches
- Supported attributes include:
 - Name
 - Alias
 - Announcement
 - Description
 - Certificate
 - Domain
 - Owners
 - Tags
 - Terms
 - Readme
 - Custom metadata

Each branch can include multiple conditions — if any condition is satisfied, the branch will trigger. Conditions cannot be reused across branches.

Fallback Path (Change Management)
- Triggered when no other branch conditions match
- Allows exclusions — you can uncheck specific attributes that should not trigger approval
- Metadata changes grouped as:
 - All asset metadata changes (common attributes)
 - Glossary-specific changes
 - AI asset-specific changes
 - Product and domain-specific changes

Only select applicable change types based on the asset universe. For example, if glossary assets aren't in scope, glossary-specific changes won't be triggered.

### New Entity Creation Template

Use this template to route requests based on where a new term, category, or product is being created.

- Define routing conditions based on the entity's destination.
- You can also set conditions at the category level.
- Each branch can include multiple conditions; if any condition is met, that branch is triggered.
- Attach different input forms to each branch—or reuse the same form, to collect context-specific information from requesters.
- This enables personalized context collection depending on the route taken.
- If no conditions are met, the fallback path is triggered automatically.

## (Optional) Collect information from requesters

Linking [forms](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/create-forms/llms.txt) to your governance workflows allows you to collect more information from requesters as they raise requests, thus enabling approvers to make informed decisions. 

You can currently embed [forms](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/create-forms/llms.txt) within the following governance workflow templates:

- [Access management](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt)
- [New entity creation](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/automate-data-governance/llms.txt)

To enable collecting information from requesters:

1. For _Collect information from requester_, toggle on the **Require requestor information** slider.
2. To link a form to your governance workflow, you can either:
 - Click **\+ Create new** to [create a new form](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/create-forms/llms.txt).
 - For _Input form_, click the dropdown to select an existing form. You can optionally preview or edit your selected form.
3. At the bottom of the form, click the **Save &** **Continue** button.

## (Optional) Enable auto-approval

You can set up specific conditions for auto-approval of requests to reduce the need for human intervention. For example, you can enable auto-approval of:

- Data access requests from new users in your team to facilitate faster onboarding.
- Metadata update requests for assets with no restrictions.

To enable auto-approval of requests:

1. For _If auto approval is enabled_, toggle on the **Auto approve request** slider.
2. Once you have turned on auto-approval, you can specify a subset of assets or a list of approved users that qualify for automated approval. You can either:
 - For _Filter assets for auto approval_, create a subset of assets for auto-approval. Follow the steps in Select the scope of workflow to filter your selections.
 - For _Auto-approve eligible users requests_, configure the following:
 - Click **\+ Add users/groups** to select individual users or groups whose requests can be cleared for auto-approval.
 - Click **\+ Add owners** to select [asset owners](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/add-owners/llms.txt) whose requests can be cleared for auto-approval.
3. At the bottom of the form, click the **Save &** **Continue** button.

## Set up manual approval

You can set up the approval process for requests and identify approvers. This ensures that each request is reviewed and authorized by designated approvers. Approvers can be individual users, user groups, or a combination of both.

To set up the manual approval process:

1. For _Select approvers and process_, determine the approval strategy from the following options:
 - To enable any one approver from a list of approvers to approve requests, click **Anyone approves**. This means if any one approver approves or rejects a request, the workflow will be completed.
 - To enable all selected approvers to approve requests in no particular order or simultaneously, click **All approve - Parallel**. This means that requests will go to all designated approvers and must be approved by all.
 - To enable all selected approvers to approve requests in a predefined order, click **All approve - Sequential**. This means that the request will go through a particular order for approval and must be approved by all.
2. For _Who can approve requests_, designate approvers:
 - Click **\+ Add users/groups** to select individual users or groups as approvers. If you have selected the sequential option, you can drag and sort approvers to create a custom order for approval.
 - Click **\+ Add owners** to select [asset owners](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/add-owners/llms.txt) as approvers. If you have selected the sequential option, you can drag and sort approvers to create a custom order for approval.
 - Click **\+ Add users/groups** to add at least one additional approver other than the selected asset owner(s). This is a mandatory step if you have designated asset owners as approvers.
3. For _Request expiry period_, set the minimum or maximum number of days during which the approval window will be open. Non-approval will lead to automatic rejection of the request.
4. At the bottom of the form, click the **Save** **Continue** button.

:::info **Did you know?** 
 Atlan recommends that you limit your group selection for automated and manual approval to groups with fewer than 100 users. This will ensure that your governance workflows and approvals run smoothly.

:::

## Review and publish workflow

If you'd like to continue working on your workflow, you can save it as a draft. If your workflow is ready, you can proceed to publishing it.

Review all your selections, and then to publish your governance workflow:

- In the upper right of the screen, click the **Publish** button.

Congratulations, your governance workflow is now active! 🎉

Any requests on assets within the scope of your workflow will be immediately routed through the workflow you just created. Requesters will be notified about the outcome of their requests through the [task inbox](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/governance/stewardship/manage-tasks/llms.txt).

:::info **Did you know?** 
 For governed assets, you can open the [activity log](https://docs.atlan.com/llms/catalog/discovery/faq/llms.txt) to view whether it was updated using governance workflows, an approval timeline, who requested the change, and approvers that approved it.

:::

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