The Enterprise Data Catalog

Chapter 5. Discover Data: Empower End Users and Engage Stakeholders

The more users a data catalog has, and the more these users can do independently of the central discovery team, the more quality the data catalog will provide. As such, users must be engaged with the data catalog in a way that makes them connect as a social network.

Activating the metadata in the data catalog in the tools where employees carry out daily tasks is one way to empower end users. Another important aspect is to engage the main stakeholders in the leadership of your organization. If they understand the value of a data catalog, they are likely to drive engagement and participation with their constituents.

A Data Catalog Is a Social Network

The success of your data catalog depends on user adoption. A data catalog is a collaborative tool. It is successful only if many people use it actively and in a federated way. Every employee must be offered the opportunity to add data to the catalog, search, comment, request, share, and use data with everyone else, perhaps with collaboration from a colleague, maybe two, but ideally not with support from the central data discovery team. If this level of cooperation is not reached in the data catalog, it will not become effective.

Tip

You want the usage of a data catalog to be as federated as possible, with each domain being able to expose, provide, and consume data as independently as possible of the data discovery team.

If employees can’t learn from their closest ...