Put your data in order with the data catalogue

The management and exploitation of data benefits all of the company's business activities, thanks to numerous collaborative applications connected to hybrid environments.

While data has become a crucial performance and productivity issue, business information systems must evolve to incorporate software components capable of processing, sorting, indexing and making available an ever-growing volume of heterogeneous data.

Among all the technological innovations, it is the data catalogue that will help you put your data in order.

How can it help? We tell you all about it!

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What are data catalogues?

A data catalogue works like a traditional library. Like a library, it provides quick and direct access to the information you're looking for, in this case a dataset classified from all the data generated by and passing through the company.

😀 It therefore simplifies navigation through a growing volume of information and optimises users' search time.

Data catalog: definition

A data catalogue refers to a precise and detailed inventory of all the company's data. This software tool collects and organises all the metadata available in the organisation, in order to enhance it and make it accessible to users, even if they do not have a technical profile.

This definition leads to another, that of metadata, at the heart of how the data catalogue works.

Metadata also characterises data. It provides information about the data to which it is attached, in order to :

• sort them to distinguish between those that are useful and those that are not ;
• organise it;
• facilitate access to stored information.

☝️ Ultimately, metadata is just as important as the data itself.

What is the difference between metadata and a data catalogue?

As we saw earlier, the data catalogue and metadata are closely linked, even if they differ in nature and the role they play in managing an organisation's data.

A data catalogue, a software tool, collects, organises and presents metadata in a structured and accessible way. It is a centralised inventory or directory.

Metadata defines descriptive information about the data itself. It contextualises the data. For example, metadata specifies the source of a piece of data, its owner, or the changes it has undergone over time.

The metadata in a data file, also known as primary data, includes :

• the timestamp, the date and time of creation, modification and last opening ;
• the author of the file
• the format and size of the file
• data quality;
• the access path to the primary data, etc.

This example concerns the metadata attached to a data file. The information it contains is likely to vary when it is generated by other types of primary data, for example an email, an image or a video sequence.

To understand the difference, we can say that the data catalogue is the container and the metadata is the content.

What is the purpose of a data catalogue?

A company's performance depends to a large extent on its ability to exploit and add value to its data. So what solution should you adopt? The data catalogue, of course 😉

This tool centralises, organises and makes all your data accessible. It models it so that every user can benefit from it. This tool then becomes a central element in knowledge management and trend analysis strategies within companies.

The data catalog :

• facilitates data exploration and discovery ;
• simplifies the understanding of data, thanks to the wealth of contextual information it provides;
• improves data governance within the company and with regard to regulatory obligations;
• strengthens collaboration between all those involved in the company;
• ensures data quality;
• delivers faster, more effective analytics.

The benefits of the data catalogue

The data catalogue democratises access to corporate data.

It gives all employees the opportunity to share and exploit a source of information that is vital to the running of the organisation.

The data catalogue therefore has the advantage of :

• it makes data accessible. Users can simply find the relevant and reliable information they need;
• encouraging collaboration and knowledge-sharing between the various players in the company;
• improve the quality and reliability of the information available, thanks to the traceability of data (metadata) and the rapid identification of errors or anomalies;
• enable an operational data management strategy.

💡 Implementing a corporate data catalogue also supports innovation and strategic initiatives.

Data catalogue use cases

The data catalogue is a versatile system. Equipped with powerful functionalities, it is used for a variety of purposes within the company.

Advanced data search

This involves searching for datasets by keyword, business term or technical attribute (data name, date, format, etc.).

Additional filters can be used to refine the query by specifying, for example, the type of object, the source or the name of the owner. The results are enhanced with data lineage data.

Governance and regulatory compliance

Thanks to the data catalogue, you can identify sensitive data, trace its history (creation or collection, transformation, destination, etc.) and apply a governance mode that complies with regulations.

Collaboration between teams

The data catalogue serves as a common repository for all the company's teams.

They can search for business data assets (data that is structured and documented so that it can be easily exploited) and use these collaborative functions to share their knowledge and make annotations and comments that will enrich the dataset.

Optimising business processes

By centralising all the data available on a particular business line, the data catalogue highlights opportunities for improving operational processes.

For example, in the sales field, analysing information can be used to increase the efficiency of sales staff, identify new sales opportunities, etc.

Improving the quality and relevance of available data

Finally, the data catalogue helps to improve the quality of the company's data by detecting inconsistencies, anomalies in data sets and duplicates.

This tool guarantees the quality and integrity of the data analysed and used by the company's various employees.

The key features of a data catalogue

The data catalogue incorporates a number of essential functions, including :

• collecting metadata from a variety of sources ;
• indexing all the company's data. This metadata register describes the characteristics of each element;
• data governance, i.e. the management, organisation, control and regulatory compliance of data storage;
• data lineage, which involves mapping the data and ensuring its traceability throughout its life cycle;
• the search engine, to enable users to find information simply and quickly;
• the data collaboration and sharing tool;
• connectors, used to link data catalogues to corporate data sources such as CRM and ERP, with the aim of collecting metadata and sharing available information with authorised users;
• access and user rights management, a key functionality for limiting access to data according to user profiles and securing information in line with regulatory requirements (notably the RGPD);
• decision-making tools: in the form of dashboards, they enable data to be sorted, to distinguish between data that is useful to the business and that which is less so, to organise it, etc.

☝️ In short, the data catalogue is the tool you need if you want to manage your data effectively and make the most of it, so that it becomes a strategic lever for innovation, decision-making and business development.to innovation, decision-making, process optimisation, improved operational performance and competitiveness.

Examples of data catalogues

One of the best-known data catalogues is that of AWS, provided via AWS Glue Data Catalog. This is a powerful solution for managing, organising and exploiting metadata from the AWS ecosystem.

Another example of a powerful data catalogue is the Opendatasoft solution, which allows you to centralise your data assets simply and completely securely, even if you consume data on a large scale. With this interactive, easy-to-use tool (artificial intelligence makes searching easy!), all your data is available on a self-service basis to users with access rights.

Finally, there's Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Data Catalog. This metadata management service developed by Oracle helps users to discover, manage and organise data in the Oracle and third-party ecosystems.

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How do you install a data catalogue?

To install a data catalogue correctly, you need to follow a rigorous procedure.

As with any IT project that takes place at the heart of the IS, you need to :

• define the objectives of your data catalogue: data accessibility, governance, compliance ;
• map the data sources (relational database, applications, CRM), and draw up technical documentation (situation, infrastructure, use);
• select a compatible solution from the market standards;
• Configure the data catalogue with the available interface, specify the location of managed storage and organise the tables;
• Set up crawling routines and scripts to automate the collection of metadata;
• ensure that the data is traceable (data lineage).

After that, all you'll need to do is establish the data governance rules (roles and data access permissions) and train the users.

💡 A data catalogue should be deployed in a company's information system in an agile way. In other words, the system needs to adapt as your needs change.

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Data catalogue: in a nutshell!

The data catalogue is a software solution that enables companies to make the most of all the data, structured or not :

• that they produce on a daily basis from their management tools (ERP, CRM) ;
• or that they collect via their websites, email exchanges, etc.

In short, it is a detailed inventory of all the company's data. Its function is to index and describe all the data, and to provide advanced search, data governance and collaboration functionalities.

The data catalogue is not an isolated system. It connects to all the organisation's applications, via connectors, in order to collect data, organise it and make it available to authorised users. It is one of the essential building blocks of businesses founded on the exploitation and enhancement of both internal and external data.

That's why a data catalogue project in your company must be the subject of a precise analysis, and even give rise to the creation of specifications that take into account the particularities of the existing IT system. Only in this way will you be able to put in place a high-performance, compatible solution.