Key considerations while building a Data Catalog

This whitepaper discussed the challenges which organizations are facing, what data governance brings, and how the data governance framework (Data Catalog) can help. The next step is implementing the Data Catalog. Following are key considerations which an organization should weigh before starting their journey to build a Data Catalog.

Choose a team with domain knowledge and Data Catalog skillsets

A team building a Data Catalog must be a balanced mix of technical and business experts. The team should have a background with data integration, which is the practice of consolidating data from disparate sources into a single dataset, with the goal of providing users with consistent access and delivery of data across all subjects and structure types. This is an essential skill, because a team with domain knowledge and Data Catalog skills can reduce the overall completion time to onboard and maintain a Data Catalog.

Tools, technology, and an approach to build the Data Catalog

There are various tools and approaches to build the Data Catalog. You can start with either a custom build approach, where you choose your own tool sets, or you can use third-party tools. Both have their advantages and drawbacks.

With a custom build Data Catalog, the overall tool and licensing cost is lower, but additional labor is required to acquire, ingest, and present the Data Catalog to users.

Having third-party tools can shorten the metadata acquisition, processing, and presentation time, because it provides out-of-the-box capabilities to achieve these tasks. However, the overall tool and licensing cost is higher.