

#Data inventory definition software#
And increasingly, process metadata is mined for information on software users or customers, such as what software they’re using and the level of service they’re experiencing. Process metadata can also be used to troubleshoot queries. Process metadata provides information about the asset’s history and lineage, which can help an analyst decide if the asset is recent enough for the task at hand, if it comes from a reliable source, if it has been updated by trustworthy individuals, and so on. It should also describe who has permission to access and use the data.

Process metadata (also called administrative metadata) describes the circumstances of the data asset’s creation and when, how, and by whom it has been accessed, used, updated, or changed. Technical metadata tells data professionals how they will need to work with the data-for example, if they can work with it as is, or if they need to transform it for analysis or integration. Technical metadata (also called structural metadata) describes how the data is organized and displayed to users by describing the structure of the data objects-such as tables, columns, rows, indexes, and connections. There are many classes of metadata, but a data catalog deals primarily with three: technical metadata, process metadata, and business metadata. For example: Is it current or outdated? Does it have the information I’m looking for? Is the author someone I trust or whose work I enjoy? In these, each card or listing contains information about a book or publication (e.g., title, author, subject, publication date, edition, location within the library, and summary or synopsis) that makes the publication easier for a reader to find and to evaluate. The classic or most commonly used example of metadata is the card catalog or online catalog at a library. Govern the use of the data in compliance with industry or government regulationsīuilding on the brief definition above, metadata is data that describes a data asset or provides information about the asset that makes it easier to locate, evaluate, and understand.


The catalog also provides tools that enable users to do the following: This inventory enables data citizens-data analysts, data scientists, data stewards, and other data professionals with access to corporate data-to search through all of an organization’s available data assets and help themselves to the most appropriate data for their analytical or business purposes.Ī data catalog typically includes capabilities for collecting and continually enriching-or curating-the metadata associated with each data asset in order to make each asset easier to identify, evaluate, and use properly. Unstructured data, including documents, web pages, email, social media content, mobile data, images, audio, and video.These assets can include (but are not limited to) these things: A data catalog uses metadata-data that describes or summarizes data-to create an informative and searchable inventory of all data assets in an organization.
