What is a Business Glossary?
When it comes to organizations of any size, it’s essential that all users, departments, and units use the same, consistent business vocabulary to facilitate cross-department collaboration. A business glossary is a solution that pulls information from several data dictionaries and company-wide data assets and synthesizes it all into one organized and easily accessible format. It can take a long time to build a business glossary – years, even – though it does pay off to ensure that all concepts and definitions are up-to-date, consistent, and readily accessible.
Why is a Business Glossary Important?
A business glossary is the starting point for any data-driven organization and contains the definitions and concepts of business terms that are used on a daily basis. Technical and business users rely heavily on data for different reasons, and as a result, they may use distinct terms to refer to the same data assets.
Benefits of a Business Glossary
- Collaboration between departments is streamlined when a business glossary is in place, helping users to identify owners of data and subject matter experts.
- It consolidates knowledge that meets everyone’s objectives and can be accessed through one resource.
- It’s a useful onboarding tool for new employees to learn the business vocabulary and refer back to moving forward.
The Difference Between a Business Glossary vs Data Catalog
Like data lineage, a data catalog enables all data users to know, use and trust available data assets. While a business glossary contains concepts and definitions of frequently used business terms and facilitates company-wide collaboration, a data catalog is an inventory of a company’s data assets. The data assets that live in a data catalog inform both technical and business users on what data is available and also allow them to efficiently locate that data. Similar to a business glossary, a data catalog is a self-serve resource that empowers users to get the data they need at any given moment, all while knowing that the information is accurate and up to date.
How Precisely Can Help?
Precisely offers Data360 Govern to establish a strong governance framework and proactively find, understand, and manage your data for better business outcomes based on trusted data. Data360 Govern also automates the curation of a business glossary for data, visualizing how data flows through your organization, and allowing your people to speak data fluently for better, data-driven decisions.