107 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
107 lines
2.7 KiB
Markdown
**MD file:** `Data Catalog.md`
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**Estimated reading time:** 10–12 minutes
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# Data Catalog
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## Definition
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A **Data Catalog** is a searchable inventory of an organization's data assets and their [[Metadata]].
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It helps people discover what data exists, what it means, where it comes from, who owns it, and whether it is trusted.
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## Simple Mental Model
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> **A Data Catalog is Google for your organization's data.**
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## How It Works
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A Data Catalog may inventory:
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- Databases
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- Tables
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- Columns
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- Files
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- Dashboards
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- Reports
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- Metrics
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- Models
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- Pipelines
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- APIs
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An entry might show owner, status, description, grain, source, refresh, quality, and downstream use.
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## Example
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Search:
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`Revenue`
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Results:
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```text
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Net Advertising Revenue [Certified]
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Subscription Revenue [Certified]
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Gross Advertising Revenue
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Revenue Forecast [Restricted]
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```
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Each result includes an owner and business definition.
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## How It Fits Into the Bigger Picture
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```text
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[[Metadata]]
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↓
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Collected and organized in
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↓
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[[Data Catalog]]
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↓
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Datasets + Metrics + Reports + Owners
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```
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The catalog may surface [[Data Lineage]], [[Data Quality]], [[Business Glossary]], [[Data Owner]], and [[Data Steward]] information.
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## My Company / Real-World Context
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A new employee should be able to search `Video Completion Rate` and see its definition, owner, dataset, source system, refresh, and dashboards that use it.
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## CTO Perspective
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Buying a catalog tool does not create governance. A catalog full of stale descriptions is only expensive documentation.
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The hard part is the operating model: who maintains it, who certifies assets, what "trusted" means, and how deprecation works.
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### Questions to Ask
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- Can employees discover trusted data without knowing who created it?
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- How do we mark certified vs experimental datasets?
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- Who maintains catalog entries?
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- Does the catalog show [[Data Lineage]]?
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- Does it expose [[Data Quality]] status?
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- Are people actually using it?
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## Meeting Scenario
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**Situation:** Someone proposes an expensive enterprise Data Catalog because "every mature organization needs one."
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**Possible response:**
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> "Before selecting a platform, let's define the problem. Are we struggling with discoverability, ownership, duplicated datasets, lineage, business definitions, or all of these? Then we can determine the lightest solution that meets the need."
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## Key Takeaways
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- A Data Catalog is a searchable inventory of data assets and metadata.
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- It supports discoverability, self-service, and governance.
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- A tool alone does not create governance.
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- Operating model and adoption matter more than the interface.
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## Related Concepts
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- [[Metadata]]
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- [[Data Governance]]
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- [[Data Lineage]]
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- [[Data Quality]]
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- [[Business Glossary]]
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- [[Data Owner]]
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- [[Data Steward]]
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