Cannot access roles and permissions purview data catalog with data governance role

Question

Cannot access roles and permissions purview data catalog with data governance role

Mark Post 40

We are evaluating the Purview data governance solution with the free version. I have the following roles

Purview Administrator
Data Source Administrator
Data Governance

However I am not able to access the roles and permissions in the data catalog section.

User's image

What do I need extra to be able to access this?

Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-07T10:34:25.4566667+00:00
Hi @Mark Post
It looks like you're running into some access issues with the Purview data catalog while trying to use the data governance role. Here's a bit of info that might help clarify things:

From what you've mentioned, you currently hold three roles: Purview Administrator, Data Source Administrator, and Data Governance. While these roles grant significant permissions, you might be missing some specifics related to the Unified Catalog.

To access roles and permissions in the data catalog, you need Catalog level permissions. You may need to be assigned one of the following roles:

Governance Domain Owner: This role can delegate other domain permissions.

Global Catalog Reader: This role allows access to published artifacts across governance domains.

If you're unable to access the roles and permissions section specifically, ensure that:

You or someone in your organization holds the Governance Domain Owner role in the specific governance domain you're trying to access.

You have proper catalog permissions assigned to your account that match the data you are trying to manage.

For more info refer these articles:

Data governance roles and permissions in Microsoft Purview

Manage data product access policies

If you’ve checked these and still can’t access it, here are a few follow-up questions to help further diagnose the issue:

Are you trying to access a specific governance domain, or is this issue happening across multiple domains?

Have you verified if there are users assigned as Governance Domain Owners for the domain in question?

Can you access any other sections of the Purview interface, or is it just the roles and permissions section causing issues?

Are there any error messages that pop up when you attempt to access the roles and permissions?

I hope this helps you get a little closer to resolving your issue! Let me know if you need more information.

Kindly consider upvoting the comment if the information provided is helpful. This can assist other community members in resolving similar issues.
Mark Post 40 Reputation points

2025-07-08T07:37:38.9433333+00:00

Hi @Smaran Thoomu ,

Thanks for your reply but that does not solve my problem. As a Data governance administrator, I should have access to the roles and permissions on the data catalog so that I can assign the governance domain creator role for example. Also, the Data Governance Administrator should be able to add Governance Domain Owners to the Domain. See https://free.blessedness.top/en-us/purview/unified-catalog-governance-domains-create-manage#manage-governance-domains. This means that I am stuck in the step before your solution.
According to the tutorial it just should work but unfortunately it does not. It seems that the free version is not working, but as I want to test only the data governance part of purview I am not sure if a trial version would solve this. There is on Microsoft learn a section that states that for roles and permissions you should have the enterprise version but that does not make sense because then the free version cannot be used at all.
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-08T11:03:14.7966667+00:00

Mark Post I kindly request you to provide the details mentioned in the private message so we can identify the root cause and address the issue effectively.
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-09T07:39:22.8566667+00:00

Mark Post Could you please share your Tenant ID, Subscription ID, and the login email ID you are using in the private message?
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-17T18:21:41.4866667+00:00
Hi Mark Post

After checking internally, I would like to clarify that access to the "Roles and permissions" section in the Microsoft Purview portal is controlled differently than other catalog-level permissions. Specifically:

To view or manage Role Groups in the "Roles and scopes" area, a user must either:

Be assigned the Global Administrator role, or

Be assigned the Role Management role (which itself is only available through the Organization Management role group).

This requirement is outlined in the official Microsoft documentation: Permissions in the Microsoft Purview portal

This explains why even with the Data Governance Administrator role, you're unable to access this section - the portal requires tenant-level permission, not just catalog or domain-specific roles.

We understand this can be a bit limiting when evaluating features using the Free or Trial tier. If you're testing data governance capabilities, you may need to have your Azure AD admin temporarily assign one of these higher-level roles for evaluation purposes.

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

Kindly consider upvoting the comment if the information provided is helpful. This can assist other community members in resolving similar issues.
Mark Post 40 Reputation points

2025-07-18T08:56:32.9566667+00:00

Hi @Smaran Thoomu

Yes, I know these limitations, but I think there might be a misunderstanding. I can see and manage the role groups. I am Purview administrator which is a role group that holds the role management role. So, I can assign tenant level access for purview. For example the data governance role. However, when then trying to use the data catalog you need more specific permissions which should be set by the data governance role in the roles and permissions. This is a different section than the role groups. It seems like there is more permission needed but that is not mentioned anywhere that I could find.
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-18T09:18:46.8+00:00
Mark Post Thanks for the additional details - that really helps clarify the situation.

You're absolutely right that as a Purview Administrator, you have the Role Management role and can assign tenant-level roles like Data Governance. However, when it comes to assigning roles or permissions inside the Data Catalog itself (such as setting up Governance Domain Owners), it appears additional catalog-level permissions are required - which are not clearly documented.

We’re currently checking internally to confirm if:

This is a limitation of the free version of Purview.

Or if it’s due to missing permissions that aren’t granted through the current roles, even for a Purview Administrator.

I have escalated this to our internal product team for clarification. I’ll update you as soon as I hear back. I truly understand how this is impacting your ability to test the governance capabilities.

Thanks again for your patience.
Mark Post 40 Reputation points

2025-07-18T11:49:18.2066667+00:00

Hi @Smaran Thoomu ,

I have been testing this with adding different roles to my user. But that did not work either (Tested for example "Compliance Administrator" and "Organization Management" which have quite some permissions). I did notice one access error which is strange because I have that access. Maybe something is incorrect there.

Required permission error on Data Governance administrator

But I have the permission

However, there is an error notification that it cannot retrieve something.
jmcclain 0 Reputation points

2025-07-18T18:26:57.7866667+00:00

For reference, I am getting the exact same error Mark is reporting about my permissions not being adequate even with a Global Admin account. I am also using the Free version of Purview, can you please confirm whether this behavior is a bug or if it's a limitation of the free version? If the latter, then the error messages should be changed to be more clear and intuitive, currently the error messages are highly misleading.

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Mark Post 40 Reputation points

2025-07-08T07:37:38.9433333+00:00

Hi @Smaran Thoomu ,

Thanks for your reply but that does not solve my problem. As a Data governance administrator, I should have access to the roles and permissions on the data catalog so that I can assign the governance domain creator role for example. Also, the Data Governance Administrator should be able to add Governance Domain Owners to the Domain. See https://free.blessedness.top/en-us/purview/unified-catalog-governance-domains-create-manage#manage-governance-domains. This means that I am stuck in the step before your solution.
According to the tutorial it just should work but unfortunately it does not. It seems that the free version is not working, but as I want to test only the data governance part of purview I am not sure if a trial version would solve this. There is on Microsoft learn a section that states that for roles and permissions you should have the enterprise version but that does not make sense because then the free version cannot be used at all.
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-08T11:03:14.7966667+00:00

Mark Post I kindly request you to provide the details mentioned in the private message so we can identify the root cause and address the issue effectively.
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-09T07:39:22.8566667+00:00

Mark Post Could you please share your Tenant ID, Subscription ID, and the login email ID you are using in the private message?
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-17T18:21:41.4866667+00:00

Hi Mark Post

After checking internally, I would like to clarify that access to the "Roles and permissions" section in the Microsoft Purview portal is controlled differently than other catalog-level permissions. Specifically:

To view or manage Role Groups in the "Roles and scopes" area, a user must either:

Be assigned the Global Administrator role, or

Be assigned the Role Management role (which itself is only available through the Organization Management role group).

This requirement is outlined in the official Microsoft documentation: Permissions in the Microsoft Purview portal

This explains why even with the Data Governance Administrator role, you're unable to access this section - the portal requires tenant-level permission, not just catalog or domain-specific roles.

We understand this can be a bit limiting when evaluating features using the Free or Trial tier. If you're testing data governance capabilities, you may need to have your Azure AD admin temporarily assign one of these higher-level roles for evaluation purposes.

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

Kindly consider upvoting the comment if the information provided is helpful. This can assist other community members in resolving similar issues.
Mark Post 40 Reputation points

2025-07-18T08:56:32.9566667+00:00

Hi @Smaran Thoomu

Yes, I know these limitations, but I think there might be a misunderstanding. I can see and manage the role groups. I am Purview administrator which is a role group that holds the role management role. So, I can assign tenant level access for purview. For example the data governance role. However, when then trying to use the data catalog you need more specific permissions which should be set by the data governance role in the roles and permissions. This is a different section than the role groups. It seems like there is more permission needed but that is not mentioned anywhere that I could find.
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-18T09:18:46.8+00:00

Mark Post Thanks for the additional details - that really helps clarify the situation.

You're absolutely right that as a Purview Administrator, you have the Role Management role and can assign tenant-level roles like Data Governance. However, when it comes to assigning roles or permissions inside the Data Catalog itself (such as setting up Governance Domain Owners), it appears additional catalog-level permissions are required - which are not clearly documented.

We’re currently checking internally to confirm if:

This is a limitation of the free version of Purview.

Or if it’s due to missing permissions that aren’t granted through the current roles, even for a Purview Administrator.

I have escalated this to our internal product team for clarification. I’ll update you as soon as I hear back. I truly understand how this is impacting your ability to test the governance capabilities.

Thanks again for your patience.
Mark Post 40 Reputation points

2025-07-18T11:49:18.2066667+00:00

Hi @Smaran Thoomu ,

I have been testing this with adding different roles to my user. But that did not work either (Tested for example "Compliance Administrator" and "Organization Management" which have quite some permissions). I did notice one access error which is strange because I have that access. Maybe something is incorrect there.

Required permission error on Data Governance administrator

But I have the permission

However, there is an error notification that it cannot retrieve something.
jmcclain 0 Reputation points

2025-07-18T18:26:57.7866667+00:00

For reference, I am getting the exact same error Mark is reporting about my permissions not being adequate even with a Global Admin account. I am also using the Free version of Purview, can you please confirm whether this behavior is a bug or if it's a limitation of the free version? If the latter, then the error messages should be changed to be more clear and intuitive, currently the error messages are highly misleading.

Answer 1

Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Microsoft External Staff Moderator

Hi @Mark Post

Thanks again for your continued engagement.

I would like to provide an important clarification based on additional internal review:

It appears that access to Unified Catalog features (such as Roles and Permissions) is currently gated behind the Enterprise billing model in Microsoft Purview. Even if Data Governance roles are assigned, a Free tier account will not be able to create or manage objects within the Unified Catalog, nor should those features be accessible under expected behavior.

At this time, if you're seeing these options while still on the Free tier, it may be due to an unintended visibility gap, which the product team is currently reviewing for correction.

To fully evaluate Unified Catalog capabilities—including governance domain roles—you will need to create a Purview account and activate the Enterprise trial or billing.

We’ll also be raising feedback to improve clarity in the documentation.

I hope this information helps. Please do let us know if you have any further queries.

Kindly consider upvoting the comment if the information provided is helpful. This can assist other community members in resolving similar issues.

Mark Post 40 Reputation points

2025-07-24T07:14:59.5666667+00:00

OK, that means that the free version is only showcasing that you can find the data assets in fabric with purview. There is no functionality of data governance that you can use in this free version.
Smaran Thoomu 31,910 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2025-07-24T13:28:22.66+00:00

Hi Mark Post
That’s correct - the Free tier of Microsoft Purview primarily provides visibility into data assets but does not support core Data Governance functionalities such as managing roles and permissions within the Unified Catalog.

To fully evaluate features like governance domain ownership and policy assignment, an Enterprise trial or paid billing model is required. The current experience where some governance UI elements are visible in the Free tier is unintended, and the product team is reviewing this for correction.

Appreciate your thorough testing and feedback - it’s helping shape better clarity in both documentation and product experience.

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Cannot access roles and permissions purview data catalog with data governance role

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