Enterprises are taking Data Governance—planning and programming to control and secure data—more seriously. In a recent DATAVERSITY® Trends in Data Management Report, 76 percent of organizations have a Data Governance program in place or such a plan for the future. This makes sense as companies focus more on security and business growth. Data breaches have […]
What Is a Data Catalog?
A data catalog centralizes access to all of an organization’s available data assets through a metadata inventory. This repository facilitates dataset search and retrieval so that users and systems can easily find the information needed for business. A data catalog differs from a data dictionary in its ability to search and retrieve information. Data catalogs “may […]
What Is Data Management?
Data Management is a comprehensive collection of practices, concepts, and processes dedicated to leveraging data assets for business success and compliance with data regulations. It spans the entire lifecycle of a given data asset from its original creation point to its final retirement, from end to end of an enterprise. The practice includes an extensive […]
What Is a Data Container?
A data container is a transportation solution for a database required to run from one computer system to another. A data container is a data structure that “stores and organizes virtual objects (a virtual object is a self-contained entity that consists of both data and procedures to manipulate the data).” This is similar to the packaging of a […]
Data Warehouse vs. Data Lake Technology: Different Approaches to Managing Data
Solving business problems using big data depends upon the approach taken. For example, if an organization only knows data warehouses, then challenges will be framed to fit using a data warehouse. As Abraham Maslow, a prominent psychologist eloquently said “I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat […]
What Is Business Semantics?
Business semantics describes metadata, reconciled to have consistent organizational terms and meanings. While business metadata describes data to enhance business value, business semantics makes up a sub-set of this metadata, the vocabulary. Business semantics can result in a business glossary, but it may take on a combination of different formats. Conceptual data models, data catalogs, […]
What Is Enterprise Information Management (EIM)?
The Gartner IT Glossary defines Enterprise Information Management (EIM) as: “An integrative discipline for structuring, describing and governing information assets across organizational and technological boundaries to improve efficiency, promote transparency and enable business insight.” According toOpenText, EIM: “Helps businesses attain 360-degree views of their Big Data and Analytics by streamlining organizational workflows, increasing the quality […]
What Is Data Cleansing?
Data cleansing (aka data cleaning or data scrubbing) is the act of making system data ready for analysis by removing inaccuracies or errors. This process prevents questionable and costly business decisions based on messy data. Data volumes and sources have grown much bigger and are expected to scale up even quicker. Companies wish to access […]
What Is Data Strategy?
Data Strategy describes a “set of choices and decisions that together, chart a high-level course of action to achieve high-level goals,” according to DAMA’s Data Management Body of Knowledge (DMBoK). This approach includes business plans to use data for a competitive advantage and support enterprise goals. Having such a blueprint to align decision-making and activities around […]
What Is Data Governance?
Data Governance is a collection of components – data, roles, processes, communications, metrics, and tools – that help organizations formally manage and gain better control over data assets. As a result, organizations can best balance security with accessibility and be compliant with standards and regulations while ensuring data assets go where the business needs them […]