The Data Catalog: try this simple recipe for success

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

Think back to a recipe you thought looked delicious(!)… but never tried because the recipe required unusual ingredients, or complex or lengthy preparation. You didn’t have the time or patience for it.

Many Data Catalog initiatives fail for the same reasons. The initiative doesn’t have simple ingredients, or doesn’t have simple preparation.

Try this simple starter recipe.

Ingredients:

• 5–10 commonly-used logical data entities. Examples: Account, Claim, Customer, Employee, Invoice, Order, Product, Prospect, Quote, Shipment.
• 10–25 commonly-used logical data attributes. Examples: Birth Date, Credit Card Number, Customer ID, Email Address, Given Name(s), Mobile Phone Number, Order Date, Social Security Number, Surname, Zip Code.
• 3–5 important Applications for your organization.
• A few Integrations (e.g. API’s, services, batch jobs) for each of the five Applications.

Required tool:

• Supports a multidimensional Data Catalog. The data items are only one dimension. If you want the Data Catalog to provide real value then you need to show where the data persists (at rest) and where the data flows (in transit). The world is not flat and neither is your IT landscape.
• Allows you to crowdsource the capture, maintenance, and use of the information. Get others to continue to contribute their knowledge, and have a few individuals curate the repository.

Preparation:

1. Enter the logical data entities. Identify which entities may contain sensitive information such as Personal Card Information (PCI), Personal Health Information (PHI), or Personal Identifying Information (PII).
2. Enter the logical data attributes. Identify which attributes may contain sensitive information such as Personal Card Information (PCI), Personal Health Information (PHI), or Personal Identifying Information (PII). Associate the attributes to the entities.
3. Enter the Applications.
4. Enter the Integrations. Associate the Integrations to the Applications.
5. Associate the logical entities and attributes to the relevant Applications and Integrations.

8folios has everything you need to make your Data Catalog a masterpiece. Take us for a free test drive in 15 minutes. No gimmicks. You don’t even need to clean up the kitchen afterward!

1. 3 minutes. Go to 8folios.com and take a Test Drive (free account). Ensure the box is checked to add the sample items since this allows you to taste our sample recipe. Sign in.
2. 4 minutes. Navigate to Analysis -> Where Used, search for Shipment, and explore where the logical entity Shipment is used.
3. 4 minutes. Navigate to Analysis -> Data Lineage, search for Order, and explore it’s lineage.
4. 4 minutes. Navigate to Analysis -> Data Sensitivity, and explore the data items having Personal Card Information (PCI) or Personal Identifying Information (PII).

Vary the sample recipe. Add, change, or remove any of the ingredients.

Your perspective on how to build and sustain an enterprise-class Data Catalog will never be the same.