The task
Scenario. A new analyst opens a ticket that references a validation rule called "DQ-17" and a system nickname "falcon", with no explanation attached. The instinct is to ask around on Slack, which means waiting on five people who are each half-sure of the answer. Most of the time, someone already wrote the real definition down; it's just not where you'd think to look.
The ask
- Whether the term already has a governed definition, searched by the literal string and by the concept behind it
- The full definition and the team that owns it
- The assets the term is linked to, so you can see where it's actually applied
Hero prompt
What does 'DQ-17' mean? Check if there's already a governed definition for it before I ask anyone.
Step by step
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Search for the term and the concept behind it.
Search the glossary for <DQ-17> — both the exact string as it appears in the ticket and the full-word expansion or business concept it likely stands for — and show every governed definition that could match.
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Pull the full definition and its owner.
For the closest match, give me the full definition and the team that owns it, so I get the real answer, not just that something exists.
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See where it's actually used.
Show me the assets that term is linked to, so I can see where <DQ-17> is applied in practice, not just how it's defined.
What you'll give it
Required context
- The exact acronym or phrase, copied as written
- Where it appeared (ticket, doc, code comment), for context if the search comes back ambiguous
Optional context
- The team or domain it likely came from, to narrow the search faster
What Atlan creates
Outputs
- The resolved definition and the team that owns it, if one exists
- The assets the term is linked to, so you can see where it's actually applied
- A clear "not documented yet" signal if it genuinely isn't defined anywhere
Summary. You either get the real answer in under a minute, or you get clear confirmation that this is genuinely undocumented and worth flagging, instead of guessing from context.
Read-only. Nothing is written; if it turns out to be undocumented, that's a separate follow-up to actually create the term.
Follow-up prompts
Keep going once the first answer lands.
Close the gap
It's undocumented, create the glossary term for it now so the next person doesn't hit this wall.
Do the whole ticket
Check every acronym in this whole ticket at once, not one at a time.
Make it a standing check
Run this against the onboarding runbook before the next new hire starts.
Tips & troubleshooting
Internal jargon rarely matches its governed name word for word, which is why step 1 asks for the concept as well as the literal string. If both still come back empty, that's a real answer — the term genuinely isn't documented, and that's worth flagging rather than guessing from context.
- Match the client to the work.** Any client works; this is a fast lookup you'll usually run mid-conversation, not a dedicated session.
- Automate or chain it.** Chain this across a whole ticket or runbook in one pass instead of decoding each acronym as you hit it.
- Recheck on old docs.** Definitions get renamed or retired. If the doc you're reading is old, treat a stale match as a prompt to confirm it's still current, not the final answer.