What Is a Data Catalog? - Importance, Benefits & Features | Alation

This blog was last updated in September 2023The Significance of Data CatalogsData catalogs have quickly become a core component of modern data management. Organizations with successful data catalog implementations see remarkable changes in the speed and quality of data analysis, and in the engagement and enthusiasm of people who need to perform data analysis. By contrast, organizations without a data catalog often have these questions: What is a data catalog? Why do we need a data catalog? What does a data catalog do? These are all good questions and a logical place to start your data cataloging journey.What is a Data Catalog?A Data Catalog is a collection of metadata, combined with data management and search tools, that helps analysts and other data users to find the data that they need, serves as an inventory of available data, and provides information to evaluate fitness of data for intended uses.This brief definition makes several points about data catalogs—data management, searchi...