Data enablement basics

Data Product

A governed, reusable data asset designed to serve a specific consumer need, featuring clear ownership, metadata, quality expectations, and access controls.

Data Domain

A business area that owns and manages a related set of data (e.g., Customer, Sales, Finance, or Supply Chain).

Data Governance

The framework of policies, roles, responsibilities, and processes that ensure data is managed consistently and appropriately across an organization.

Data Enablement

Providing the standards, tools, processes, and support that allow teams to discover, access, trust, and use data effectively.

Data Steward

A person responsible for the day-to-day operational quality, definition, and governance of data assets.

Data Owner

The accountable business leader responsible for the data and strategic decisions regarding its usage.

Metadata

Data about data that describes its meaning, origin, ownership, structure, and intended usage.

Data Catalog

An organized, searchable inventory of data assets and their associated metadata within an organization.

Business Metadata

Contextual information focusing on business definitions, ownership, classifications, governance policies, and semantic meaning.

Technical Metadata

Structural specifications describing tables, columns, data types, schemas, APIs, file formats, and system storage details.

Data Lineage

The complete lifecycle path showing the origin, movements, and transformations of data from source to destination consumers.

Data Quality

The degree to which data is accurate, complete, reliable, and fit for its intended operational or analytical use.

Data Policy

A documented, mandatory rule defining how data must be managed, accessed, protected, or utilized.

Data Standard

A documented, mandatory specification established to maintain consistency across data models, formats, and operational processes.

Data Control

A specific technical or procedural mechanism implemented to enforce compliance with policies or standards.

Access Control

The security mechanism and process of determining who can access specific data assets and under what conditions.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

A security model where system access and permissions are assigned strictly according to a user's organizational role.

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)

A security model where access permissions are evaluated dynamically using user, resource, action, and environmental attributes.

Data Privacy

The practice and legal framework focused on protecting personal or sensitive information from unauthorized access, collection, or misuse.

Data Classification

The categorization of data assets into groups based on their level of sensitivity, criticality, and handling requirements.

Least Privilege

The security principle that grants users and systems only the minimum access levels strictly necessary to perform their required tasks.