Data is exploding within modern companies. The average organization uses over 100 cloud apps and relies on ever more data sources to run their business. This makes finding the right data increasingly difficult for employees. They waste time searching across tools or end up using stale, low quality data.
This is where a data catalog comes in. A data catalog is the missing piece that most companies need to empower their employees with data.
What is a Data Catalog?
A data catalog is a central registry of metadata about all the datasets and data sources in an organization. It acts like an internal “Google” for company data. With a data catalog, anyone can easily search, browse, understand and consume data within their company.
Key capabilities of a data catalog include:
- Data Discovery – Search for datasets by name, description, tags, technical attributes and more.
- Metadata – View key info on data like definitions, quality, owner and permissions.
- Data Lineage – Understand where data comes from and how it flows between systems.
- Collaboration – Annotate, rate and discuss datasets.
- Access Control – Manage permissions on who can view and use which data.
For example, when searching for “customer revenue” a catalog would list relevant tables and dashboards. Selecting one would show a preview, descriptions and details to assess if this is the right data for the task at hand.
Why Your Company Needs a Data Catalog
A data catalog solves multiple challenges faced by modern, data-driven organizations:
- Data Discovery – With data spread across so many siloed tools, it’s hard for employees to know what data exists and find the right data for their needs. A catalog provides a central index to search across data sources.
- Data Understanding – Even after finding data, it’s hard to understand what it means without metadata and documentation. A catalog captures this missing context.
- Data Quality – With data flooding in from many sources, much of it is duplicate, outdated or incorrect. A catalog surfaces data quality issues.
- Data Access Control – Giving open access to data creates security and compliance risks. Catalog permissions ensure only authorized users access sensitive data.
- Data Collaboration – Business value increases when data is shared and enriched by many people. Catalog features like comments and ratings facilitate this.
- Analyst Productivity – Data workers spend over 30% of time just finding and preparing data. A catalog lets them focus on value-add analysis.
Top data catalog benefits:
- Increase productivity and adoption of data in the organization
- Reduce time spent searching for data
- Improve data quality and trust
- Minimize risk of using incorrect data
- Share knowledge on datasets across teams
- Streamline compliance with data security policies
Peliqan – All-in-One Data Platform with Built-in Catalog
Peliqan is an emerging data warehouse platform that combines data integration, transformation, analytics and cataloging in one tool.
Peliqan ingests data from databases, data warehouses and SaaS apps via instant connectors. Users can search, understand and collaborate on this data via the embedded catalog features.
The unique advantages of Peliqan’s catalog capabilities include:
– Unified discovery across both Peliqan managed data and external sources
– Rich metadata extracted automatically via AI and ML
– Full catalog embedded natively into the product vs. separate catalog tools
– Democratized access and collaboration for business users via Excel add-in
Check out Peliqan’s data catalog capabilities and how they help users to easily find, understand and consume all data. The catalog is deeply integrated with the full platform capabilities like BI analytics, data transformation and API access.
Get Started with a Data Catalog
A data catalog turns data from siloed, static assets into living, shared resources. It’s an essential hub for the data-driven enterprise.
If your organization suffers from disconnected data in different systems limiting productivity and insights, it’s time to explore adding a data catalog.
Leading options to consider include dedicated data catalog tools like Alation and Collibra as well as all-in-one platforms like Peliqan with integrated catalog capabilities. The best solution depends on your specific infrastructure and use cases.
The benefits of unlocking your data via a catalog are immense. Your employees will be empowered to find, understand and use data – turning it into fuel for smarter decisions, higher performance and business value.