People can't use data they can't find or understand. A data catalogue is an inventory of an organisation's data with the context needed to use it.
What a Catalogue Contains
- Datasets, tables and columns.
- Descriptions and business definitions.
- Owners and stewards.
- Lineage: where data comes from and where it goes.
- Quality indicators and freshness.
- Access policies and sensitivity classifications.
- Usage statistics.
Benefits
- Faster discovery.
- Consistent definitions.
- Better governance and compliance.
- Context for AI assistants that answer data questions.
Making It Work
- Automate metadata collection from databases and pipelines.
- Assign ownership; empty descriptions don't fill themselves.
- Prioritise the most-used datasets.
- Integrate into daily tools.
Common Failure
Catalogues that nobody maintains become stale and ignored. Treat the catalogue as a product with users and owners.
Glossary
Pair the catalogue with a business glossary defining key terms and metrics.