business glossary · 2020. 12. 8. · business glossary business qualification –adding business...

Business Glossary Methods and Best Practices

November 11, 2020

Karen Sheridan, Vice President of FinanceEmail: [email protected]

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Facilitator

New England Data Management Community

Business GlossaryMethods and Best PracticesDid you ever get handed an excel spreadsheet containing a list of data elements and asked to name and define the data? Did you ask someone for guidance on where to start and if there was there a process and standards that should be followed? Have you asked why am I doing this? What is the value?

This discussion is based on the importance of the business glossary and how to develop a consistent method of definition in order to provide integrity of content. These ideas, theories, and standards aid in growing a common vocabulary to maximize the value of the data within your organization. The standards support managing the business glossary from an enterprise perspective and building trust for the users of a centralized repository.

CONTACT INFO:Karen SheridanVP of Finance, DAMA New EnglandEMAIL: [email protected]

PHONE: 860-874-8644

: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karensheridan/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/karensheridan/

AGENDA• Metadata Management

• Goals

• Business Glossary• Business Glossary vs. Data Dictionary

• Definition Process• Identify the need to define new• Obstacles to a good business Glossary• Anatomy of a Business Term• Class words• Business Terms and Definition• Qualification• Extracting Business Concepts from the definition• Value of Business Concepts


Metadata Management


Planning, implementation and control activities to enable access to high quality, integrated metadata.

Metadata includes:Information about technical and business processesData rules and constraints, Logical and physical data structures.

It describes the data itself, the concepts the data represents, and the connections between the data and concepts.

Goals


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Best practicesConnect standards with

requirementsSet expectations for DBA

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Connect Standard with Requirements

Set expectations for DBA

Provide organizational understanding of business terms and usage

Collect and integrate metadata from diverse sources.

Provide a standard way to access metadata.

Ensure metadata quality and security.

Business Glossary


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A layer between the user and the extensive volume of data collected.

Organizing the business representation of data that helps end users access data using a controlled vocabulary.

Its goal is to allow business users to navigate, find and understand data.

Organizations are dynamic and under constant change. The semantic layer needs to be flexible allowing for growth and changes in order to adapt to changes in the business landscape.

Business Glossary vs Data Dictionary


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A business glossary provides business context to the data dictionary.

The difference is in what they are and how they are used

Business GlossaryRoles: Business Data Stewards, Business Owners, Business SME• Sits in the Business, uses terms the business understands• Day to day governance activities - collaboration• Ensure data if fit for purpose providing guidance and business resources

to support the investigation and remediation of data quality issues. • Understands the business process that creates the data• Business Concepts, Business Terms, Business Rules, Abbreviations

Data DictionaryRoles: Technical Data Stewards, Asset Custodians, DBA, Developers• Sits in Technology, uses terms technical teams understands• Supports the maintenance and distribution of data• Documentation of Technical Metadata maintaining the integrity of the data

through its lifecycle, and supporting Data issue remediation• Applications, Databases, Schemas, Tables, Views, Columns, Files, Fields

Employee Telephone NumberThe telephone number of an Employee as recorded in their

personnel record.

Employee: A person who is hired full or part time for a wage, salary, fee to perform work. It does not include contractors.

Telephone Number: a set of figures identifying the telephone of a particular subscriber, and used in making connections to that telephone.

tele_numTelephone Number14 byte alpha numeric

When I say Employee

Telephone Number I mean …

When I codify tele_number it

must conform to…

Definition Process


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Understand the Data

Understand the

Business Process

Sources

Granularity

Valid Values

Descriptions of

Values

• Identify the need to define new - most important step

• Identify the Class Word

• Standards for Business Term Definition

• Standards for Business Concept Definition

• Standards for Business Term Names

• Document Valid Values

Identify the need to define new


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Set expectations for DBAThe definition

process must be tool agnostic

Where do I start?

First check the metadata repository to see if the term or supporting business concepts have already been defined

Obstacles to a good business glossary


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Non Identical Duplicates

The instance that the same data element has been defined more than once with different names/definitions in the metadata repository

Identical Non Duplicates

The instance when two or more data elements have been defined with the same name/definition in the repository but really mean different things

Anatomy of a Business Term


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Employee Telephone Number

The telephone number of an Employee as recorded in their personnel record.

Employee: A person who is hired full or part time for a wage, salary, fee to perform work. It does not include contractors.


Business TermDefinition

Business ConceptClass Word

Class Words


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Class Word

Examples:Number

DescriptionCode

AmountAddress

IdentifierCountName

• Categorizes and labels by data type for business user

• Documents what form the information is conveyed by data representation

• Determined by data representation and valid values

• Enterprise certification of Class words is done with input from Modelers | Architects. If you find a need for a new Class Word, contact the Data Governance Office (DGO).

• Definition should begin with reference to the class word which drives the sentence structure

Business Term and Definition


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Business TermAnd Definition

• Definitions are written from the business perspective.

• Follow Modern Language Association (MLA) standards, fully written out, upper and lower case, proper punctuation, English language.

• Acronyms should be fully spelled out, with the abbreviation following in parenthesis. Example: Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN)

• Leverage predefined, or define new Business Concepts in the definition.

• Begin the definition with reference to the class word.

• Always include the class word in the definition to articulate data type.

• The selection of class word drives the sentence structure.

• Avoid reference to how the data is used

• May only have one definition.

• Multi-Use fields should be prevented.

• Define related data elements using similar sentence structure.

• Do not over qualify.

• Do not use ambiguous terms or terms that go out of date– “Sometimes”, “Currently” , “May”.

• When possible, avoid synonyms.

Qualification


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To qualify or not to qualify, that is the question?Do I need to define a

business concept

Qualify – To reduce from a general to a particular or restricted form

Business GlossaryBusiness Qualification – Adding business concepts to a business term definition that restricts the reusability of the term.

Data DictionaryTechnical Qualification – Adding attribution to data assets that distinguish how the data was physically implemented in one instance

Extracting Business Concepts from the Definition


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The definition must be completed before the business concepts are extracted and defined.

Always check the repository to ensure a business concept with the same meaning has not already been defined.

Using the business concept in the definition is how we begin to control the enterprise vocabulary and improve communication across lines of business and functional areas.

Employee Telephone NumberEmployee: A person who is hired full or part time for a wage, salary, fee to perform work. It does not include contractors.


• Foundational building blocks of an enterprise vocabulary.

• Key concept within the business term definition.

• Purpose is consistency, reusability and relationships between data.

• Support the categorization of business terms and related data.• May have more than one definition based on context.

Note: More than one definition should only be allowed if the context is explicitly

discernable when a relation to business term is established.

• Does not have a direct relationship with physical attributes.

• Definition of the Business Concept should not leverage the Business Concept Name.

• Leverage multi-word components when decomposition of a phrase causes loss of information about the business. By putting two or more words together the definition changes and becomes more robust.

• When possible avoid synonyms.

Value of the Business Concepts


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Organizing the business assets in a way that helps end users access data establishing a controlled vocabulary.

Navigate FindUnderstandCommunicateTrust

Employee Business Concept – the folder


Employee Birth Date Business Terms – within the folder

What concept(s) will the user

search for in the repository

It’s an art!


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Avoid

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Trust

•Unnecessary References (Application Names, Vendor Names, LoB, Geographic Locations)

•Avoid usage, concentrate on the content

•Avoid technical details that don’t change the meaning of the content.

•Embrace one Enterprise Vocabulary - Speak the same language

•Define with future use in mind

•Add a qualifier when

•The definition of the business concept is needed for a user to understand the data

•The qualifier is what a user will type in search (support organization of business glossary).

•It could prevent misuse of data

•Document what question the data answers in its purest form

•Providing enough context so a user will not misuse or misinterpret the data

Good

Better

BestThe Business Glossary Evolves Improves and gets Better over time.

Q & A
