Introduction
With the upcoming Snowflake Summit 2025 starting June 2nd, I'm excited to be heading to San Francisco! If you're attending, I'd love to connect. Unlike my usual focus on generative AI and Streamlit, today I'm diving into an exciting data collaboration update from Snowflake.
Snowflake provides a platform that supports every data architecture pattern, including the ability to realize the Data Mesh vision – where each organization takes ownership of their data while enabling others to discover and utilize it. However, implementing Data Mesh hasn't been straightforward. Beyond technical hurdles, operational challenges around cross-organizational coordination and access management have made it difficult for many enterprises to achieve this ideal.
That's where Snowflake's new Organization Listing approval workflow comes in! This feature makes enterprise data sharing more accessible and secure, enabling organizations to easily implement Data Mesh and enterprise data catalogs on the Snowflake platform.
In this article, I'll explore the value of Organization Listing approval workflows, their role as enterprise data catalogs, and how simple they are to operate.
Note: This article represents my personal views and not those of Snowflake.
Understanding Organization Listing and Internal Marketplace
Let's first clarify the relationship between Organization Listing and Internal Marketplace, as understanding this connection is crucial to grasping the value of the approval workflow feature.
What is Organization Listing?
Organization Listing is a mechanism for securely sharing data products within a Snowflake organization. It refers to listings (data sharing units) created and managed by data providers.
What is Internal Marketplace?
Internal Marketplace is a curated, secure space for collaborative data sharing within your organization, serving as the platform where Organization Listings are centrally displayed. Key features include:
- Organization-only: Similar to the public Snowflake Marketplace, but exclusively for your organization
- Data catalog functionality: Aggregates and organizes data products available within the organization
- Secure access management: Managed through account targeting and Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
- Self-service discovery: Enables discovery and utilization of internal resources without navigating external marketplaces
Two Sides of the Same Coin
| Component | Description | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Organization Listing | Data products shared within the organization (content) | Data sharing units created and managed by providers |
| Internal Marketplace | Platform where Organization Listings are displayed (location) | Where data consumers discover and access listings |
In essence, Organization Listing is the "content" and Internal Marketplace is the "platform" that displays and manages it – they work together as two sides of the same coin.
Approval Workflow Overview
The newly added approval workflow feature significantly simplifies access management for Organization Listings. Previously, access permissions had to be configured manually, but this feature enables the following workflow:
1. Request-Based Access Management
- Data consumers can send access requests with one click from Snowsight
- Data providers receive requests and decide whether to approve or deny them
- Upon approval, access permissions are automatically granted
2. Two Approval Methods
| Approval Method | Features | Use Cases |
|---|---|---|
| Manage within Snowflake | Complete approval flow within Snowsight | When rapid approval is needed |
| External management | Email or URL-based approval flow | When integrating with existing approval processes |
3. Flexible Access Control Settings
- Organization-wide access: Anyone in the organization can access
- Selected accounts and roles only: Only specified accounts and roles can access
- Approval required: No one can access without prior approval (default)
Realizing the Data Mesh Vision
The true value of this approval workflow feature lies in its ability to realistically implement Data Mesh principles.
1. Promoting Distributed Data Ownership
Traditional data warehouse approaches often had IT departments centrally managing all data. However, with Organization Listing:
- Each department can take responsibility for their own data
- Data domain experts function as data providers
- People who best understand data quality and meaning manage the data
2. Self-Service Data Discovery
The approval workflow feature enables:
- Data consumers to proactively discover data
- Direct interaction with data providers without IT department intermediation
- Data catalog functionality that visualizes organizational data assets
3. Balancing Governance and Agility
While "strengthening governance" and "accelerating data utilization" have often been seen as opposing forces:
- Approval flows maintain governance while
- Simple Snowsight operations enable access requests and
- Dramatically reduce time to data utilization
Simplicity of Operations
One of the major attractions of the approval workflow feature is its operational simplicity. The Snowsight-based UI allows intuitive operation even for non-technical users.
Data Provider Operations
- Create Organization Listing in Provider Studio
- Configure approval workflow in Access control section
- Select approval method (within Snowflake or external)
- Specify approvers (email addresses or roles)
- Publish to complete listing
Configure access control settings in Provider Studio
Click "Set up request approval flow" in the "Allow discovery" section
Select "Manage requests in Snowflake" to set up managed approval workflow
Complete necessary settings and click "Publish" in the top right to publish the Organization Listing
Data Consumer Operations
- Search and discover data in Internal Marketplace
- Click Request access button
- Enter access reason and submit
- Receive approval notification and immediately start accessing
Search for internally published lists in Internal Marketplace and make access requests
Submit request with reason for access
Approver Operations
- Receive email notification or check in Snowsight
- Review request details on Internal Requests page
- Make approval/denial decision with one click
- Access permissions are automatically granted
Requests are notified to administrators via email
View current requests in list format in Provider Studio
Add approval reason and approve to make the listing available to consumers
All these operations are GUI-based and require no SQL knowledge. This enables data sharing and utilization even for non-data engineers.
Real-World Business Scenarios
Scenario 1: Marketing and Sales Department Collaboration
Background: Sales department wants to utilize lead information from Marketing department
- Marketing department publishes lead data via Organization Listing
- Sales department discovers data in Internal Marketplace
- Submit access request and Marketing department approves
- Begin real-time utilization for sales activities
Scenario 2: Finance and Business Department Reporting
Background: Various business departments want to perform custom analysis using financial data
- Finance department publishes financial data with approval required on Organization Listing
- Business departments request access as needed
- Finance department judges appropriateness and approves/denies
- Data utilization while maintaining compliance
Scenario 3: Data Science and Business Team Collaboration
Background: Business teams want to utilize analysis results from Data Science teams
- Data Science team shares analysis results via Organization Listing
- Business teams discover relevant datasets
- Rapid approval process enables immediate access
- Accelerated data-driven decision making
Traditional Challenges and Solutions
| Traditional Challenge | Organization Listing Solution |
|---|---|
| Unaware of data existence | Centralized data catalog in Internal Marketplace |
| Complex access application process | One-click application in Snowsight |
| Time-consuming approval | Automated approval workflow |
| Security concerns | Approval-based and role-based access control |
| Unknown data quality | Provider descriptions and metadata |
Conclusion
Snowflake's Organization Listing approval workflow feature is a game-changer that enables realistic implementation of Data Mesh principles.
It fundamentally solves traditional enterprise data sharing challenges in these key areas:
- Significantly reduced technical barriers: GUI-based intuitive operations
- Balance of governance and agility: Appropriate control through approval flows
- Promoted cross-organizational data utilization: Easy data sharing across account boundaries
- Data catalog functionality: Visualization of organization-wide data assets
The Data Mesh vision, often considered "idealistic," can now be realistically and easily implemented on Snowflake. For enterprises looking to accelerate data utilization organization-wide, this is undoubtedly a high-value feature.
I encourage you to leverage this functionality to build a data-driven organizational culture in your own organizations!
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Change Log
(20250531) Initial post