Forward-thinking companies are investing in a data catalogue. It shall help integrate all the details about an organization’s data assets across multiple systems by organizing them into a simple, easy to digest format. Keeping it intuitive and flexible makes it easier for the data citizens to adopt it. Faiz Haider, Senior Consultant at Stellar recently created a data catalogue for a client and wanted to share some of his learnings.
The Beginning
The need for a single, comprehensive view of their customers to uncover new opportunities, being able to shop for information quickly, highlighting inconsistencies in data were amongst some of the reasons that led to the initiation of a data catalogue for this client. The next obvious step was to choose the right tool. Let’s say we are spoilt with choice when it comes to choosing a tool. So, we need to know what’s important for the organization; what fits the current/future architecture and has the necessary features such as the price, automated cataloguing, business glossary, data profiling, export options, data classification, etc.
What’s in it for me (organization)?
To make this a success, Faiz and the team started by identifying the early adopters, the rollout process, impact on other systems by building a (and later implementing) data lineage, adding database connections, crawling through the data structures, and profiling it. The process allowed data stewards to certify the authenticity of datasets. It did not just improve the contextual understanding of data for analysts, but also made data more accessible, quicker and easier to analyse. It also put the time of data citizens to better use. Increased confidence in the quality of data being dealt with, compliance with industry and data privacy regulations, ability to quickly review annotations and spot null fields or incorrect values were some of the many benefits that were quickly realised.
This will help in future work planning, strategic asset management. It will also improve the investment and decision-making process, reduce risk, increase efficiency, and make data and analytic initiatives a bigger success.
Data cataloguing has not just become an integral part of data governance but a key player when doing data strategy. If you want to know more or need help with your data, contact us at Stellar!
