The Data Catalog and its uses in the company

The Data Catalog is a data repository that captures the business context for the company. It allows you to capture the characteristics of data (concepts, definitions, terms, semantics) as used by a business domain, associating them with those of its implementation(s) and/or use(s) by systems (identifier, concepts, definitions, terms, semantics, format, syntax, type, list of allowed values, etc.).

It can be an application or an application suite comprised of, among other things, a business process modeling module centered around the data, a data integration layer, or even a search engine.

It is used by companies to:

• Inventory and organize the available data in their system,

• Centralize and catalog business terms and technical data,

• Track data and enable control over the data lifecycle,

• Link different levels of data modeling,

• Enable data searching within a business vocabulary.

It can also enable the implementation of management rules tailored to different data categories. These functionalities allow companies, through their use of the Data Catalog, to maximize the value that data provides.

Types of Initiatives within the Company

The company's value drivers (finance, productivity, trust, risk, or other business frameworks offering opportunities for business improvement) associated with the use of information can determine different types of initiatives.

The use of the Data Catalog, combined with this information, can therefore be part of one or more of these initiatives.

We can imagine the multiplier effect associated with reusing information across the company's various departments and initiatives. Therefore, it may be wise to introduce four non-restrictive categories of initiatives to best address information management within the organization's specific context(s):

• Operational Initiatives,

• Application Initiatives,

• Transformation Initiatives,

• Planning Initiatives.

By adopting the pragmatic approach of defining the value of information by its use within a business domain, any prospect of improvement in that domain (e.g., increased revenue, reduced risk of customer behavioral knowledge, etc.) points to a specific use case for data or a new need. These initiatives can be considered in one or more domains.