Data pools

Who is this guide for?

Role: Data Architect, Data Owner, Data Steward

Goal: Organize Datasets into Data pools, control access on a higher level, and manage shared ownership and governance.

Required Permissions: read Data pool, create Data pool, update Data pool, delete Data pool; read Dataset, create Dataset, update Dataset

What is a Data pool?

Data pools help organize related Datasets within the Platform. They provide a shared context for ownership, access management, and Data source availability across multiple Datasets.

Recommendation

Assigning a Dataset to a Data pool is optional, but recommended.

What you will achieve

After completing this guide, you will have:

• Create and manage Data pools
• Assign Datasets to Data pools
• Configure access on Data pool level
• Restrict Data source availability for Data pools
• Organize Datasets within a shared governance context

Common use cases for Data pools

Use Data pools when:

• multiple Datasets belong together
• ownership is shared
• permissions should be managed consistently
• Datasets represent one organisational unit

Avoid creating Data pools for individual Datasets only.

Create and edit a Data pool

1. Go to Data pools
2. Click Create Data pool
3. Define Name, Description and Owner in the 1st tab Base information
4. Hit Save

The Data pool exists now but contains no Datasets.

Add Datasets to a Data pool

Assign an existing Dataset

1. Go to Datasets
2. Open a specific Dataset
3. Select a Data pool in the 1st section Base information
4. Hit Save

Authorisation

Moving a Dataset to another Data pool may affect access permissions. Review the permissions of the target Data pool before making changes.

Create a new Dataset within a Data pool

1. Open the Data pool
2. Navigate to the Datasets tab
3. Select Create Dataset
4. Complete the Dataset creation process

The selected Data pool is automatically assigned to the new Dataset.

Configure access on Data pool level

In the Access tab, you define which Groups can access and manage the Data pool itself.

→ Depending on the assigned Role, the same assignment can also grant access to all contained Datasets. This allows access to multiple Datasets to be managed through a single Group and Role assignment.

Choose an access strategy

Strategy	Example	Result	Recommended
Centralized access management	Assign a Group to the Data Steward Role on Data pool level	Group members can manage the Data pool and all contained Datasets through a single assignment	✅ yes
Combined access management	Assign a large Group to the Data Consumer Role on Data pool level and manage additional Roles on individual Datasets	All users can discover and read Datasets, while editing permissions remain controlled on individual Datasets	✅ yes
Organizational grouping only	Assign a custom Data pool-specific Role without Dataset permissions on Data pool level	The Data pool is used for organization only. Dataset permissions are managed independently	⚠️ Advanced use case

Assign Groups and Roles on Data pool level

1. Open the Access tab
2. Add a Group
3. Assign a Role to the Group
4. Repeat these steps to add more Groups and Roles
5. Hit Save

Learn how Authorisation works

For a detailed explanation of permission inheritance and authorization concepts, see → Authorisation.

Review Datasets and Data sources

The Data pool detail view provides an overview of the Datasets and Data sources associated with the Data pool.

Tab Datasets: View all Datasets assigned to the Data pool.

Tab Data sources: View all Data sources that have been released for the Data pool and are available for use by its Datasets.

Restrict Data sources for Data pools

Data source availability for Data pools is configured in the Data source detail view.

→ By releasing a Data source for one or more Data pools, you control in which Datasets the Data source can be selected during pipeline configuration. A Data source is only available in Datasets that belong to a Data pool for which the Data source has been released.

Recommandation

For example, a Data source containing information about critical infrastructure may only be intended for specific organisational units and therefore be released only for selected Data pools.

Data sources can be made available to:

• all Data pools
• selected Data pools
• no Data pools

Note

Datasets without a Data pool assignment can only be targeted indirectly through the All Data pools option. Assigning Datasets to a Data pool is therefore recommended.

Restricting Data source availability allows you to:

• control which Data sources can be used within specific organisational areas
• reduce complexity for Dataset creators by showing only relevant Data sources
• support governance and compliance requirements

Configure Data source availability

1. Open the Data source detail view
2. Navigate to the Data pools tab

Either: You keep the default setting "Approve for all Data pools" (DE: Für alle Datenpools freigegeben) enabled. This makes the data source available to Datasets in all Data pools, as well as to Datasets without a Data pool assignment.

Or: You disable the setting "Approve for all Data pools" (DE: Für alle Datenpools freigegeben). In this case, you can specify the individual Data pools for which this Data source should be released. If you disable the default setting without adding any specific Data pools, the data source cannot be used in any Dataset.

3. Hit Save

Delete a Data pool

→ A Data pool can only be deleted when no Datasets are assigned to it. Before deleting a Data pool, open each contained Dataset and decide:

• assign it to another Data pool (recommended)
• remove its Data pool assignment

To delete a Data pool

1. Open Data pools
2. Locate the Data pool in the table
3. Select Delete from the Actions column
4. Confirm the deletion

The Data pool is removed from the Platform.

Best Practices

Recommended

• ✅ Organize Data pools according to organisational responsibilities
• ✅ Use Data pools to simplify permission management
• ✅ Reuse Data pools for related Datasets

Avoid

• ❌ Creating a Data pool for every Dataset
• ❌ Duplicating permission assignments unnecessarily

Related Articles

→ Core Concepts → Authorisation → Connect external data → Release Data