Type Function
A Type Function groups related Element Types into high-level functional categories. It helps you organize your asset model so that types serving a similar purpose — like "Server" and "Load Balancer" under "Infrastructure" — are managed and navigated together.
Core concepts
Why Type Functions matter
Type Functions make your asset model navigable and scalable by:
- Grouping Element Types by business function (e.g., Compute, Storage, Software)
- Improving clarity when browsing, filtering, or querying asset types
- Enabling consistent treatment of related types in rules, policies, or visualizations
- Helping integrations (Modules) map incoming data to the right categories
Example
| Type Function | Element Types |
|---|---|
Infrastructure | Server, Load Balancer, Network Device |
Software | Application, Database, Microservice |
Security | Firewall, WAF, Certificate |
This makes it easy to manage all "Infrastructure" assets as a group, apply rules to all "Software" elements, or display them as logical categories in the UI.
Built-in Type Functions
The Asset Registry ships with a hierarchy of built-in Type Functions for the Canonical Business Context Model:
| Type Function | Parent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Canonical Business Context Model | (root) | Complete business context model connecting technical assets to business concepts |
| Business Layer | Canonical Business Context Model | Business concepts: products, customers, and organizational structures |
| Technical Layer | Canonical Business Context Model | Technical implementations: applications, packages, deployments, and components |
| Business Impact Layer | Canonical Business Context Model | Business impact assessments: legal, reputational, financial, and cash flow |
All built-in Element Types are organized under these Type Functions. For example, the Product, Customer, and CustomerSegment types belong to the Business Layer, while Application and ApplicationPackage belong to the Technical Layer.
These Type Functions are pre-configured and cannot be edited or deleted.
Creating a Type Function
Navigate to Type Functions in the top navigation bar and click + New Type Function.
Settings
| Toggle | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Active | On | Whether the Type Function is available for use |
| Built In | Off | Marks the Type Function as system-defined. Built-in Type Functions cannot be edited or deleted |
Details
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Function Name | Text | Yes | A unique name for this Type Function. Duplicates are rejected with a validation error |
| Description | Text (multiline) | No | A brief explanation of the category this function represents |
Organization
| Field | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Module | Dropdown | Yes | The data source this Type Function is associated with. See Module |
| Parent Type Function | Dropdown | No | An optional parent for building hierarchical categories (e.g., IT_Assets > Infrastructure). The dropdown excludes self and descendants to prevent circular references |
Viewing and editing
Click any row in the Type Functions table to open it in view mode. From there:
- Click the edit icon to switch to edit mode
- Click the delete icon to remove the Type Function (with confirmation)
Built-in Type Functions display a warning banner and cannot be edited or deleted.
Best practices
- Keep categories broad and logical — Type Functions are not meant to be granular. If you find yourself creating one per Element Type, you are likely over-segmenting
- Align with functional areas in your organization (e.g., Compute, Network, Security, Software)
- Avoid overlapping categories — each Element Type should clearly belong to one Type Function
- Use hierarchies sparingly — one level of nesting is usually sufficient