Data Catalog Strategy

As of 2026-05-29

A data catalog stops the platform becoming a swamp. Three jobs: inventory (searchable registry), business glossary (agreed term definitions linked to physical objects so "revenue" means one thing), classification & stewardship (sensitivity tags + named owner per product). Inventory-only is a phone book; glossary + stewardship are where governance lives. SAP Datasphere's catalog is metadata-powered and links lineage (M077); the strategy decisions are taxonomy, glossary ownership, and the certification process — not "switch it on". Active metadata (continuously harvested) beats passive. The catalog makes "data products with contracts" real (BDC's pattern, M068). Findability is the precondition for self-service that doesn't fragment into silos.