Overview

Azure Data Catalog is a fully managed cloud service whose users can discover the data sources they need and understand the data sources they find.
With Data Catalog, any user (analyst, data scientist, or developer) can discover, understand, and consume data sources.
Data Catalog includes a crowd-sourcing model of metadata and annotations.
It is a single, central place for all of an organization's users to contribute their knowledge and build a community and culture of data.

Traditional Challenges

Users might not be aware that a data source exists unless they come into contact with it as part of another process.
- There is no central location where data sources are registered.
Unless users know the location of a data source, they cannot connect to the data by using a client application.
- Data-consumption experiences require users to know the connection string or path.
Unless users know the location of a data source's documentation, they cannot understand the intended uses of the data.
- Data sources and documentation might live in a variety of places and be consumed through a variety of experiences.
If users have questions about an information asset, they must locate the expert or team that's responsible for the data and engage them offline.
- There is no explicit connection between data and those with expert perspectives on its use.
Unless users understand the process for requesting access to the data source, discovering the data source and its documentation still does not help them access the data.

Annotating data sources with descriptive metadata is often a lost effort.
- Client applications typically ignore descriptions that are stored in the data source.
Creating documentation for data sources is often a lost effort.
- Keeping documentation in sync with data sources is an ongoing responsibility, and users might lack trust in documentation that's perceived as being out of date.
Creating and maintaining documentation for data sources is complex and time-consuming.
- Making that documentation readily available to everyone who uses the data source can be even more so.
Restricting access to data sources and ensuring that data consumers know how to request access is an ongoing challenge.

Data Catalog is designed to address these problems and to help enterprises get the most value from their existing information assets.
Data Catalog makes data sources easily discoverable and understandable by the users who manage the data.
Data Catalog provides a cloud-based service into which a data source can be registered.