A Data Catalog is complex…but isn’t complicated
This closing statement seems to us, a fit ting summary for all of the above,
and it will be our conclusion.
We have seen too many Data Catalog initiatives morph into endless data governance projects that try to solve a laundry list of issues- ignoring those easily solved by a Data Catalog. Once you have removed the extra baggage.
The deployment of a Data Catalog only takes a few days, rather than months, to produce value.
The services rendered by a Data Catalog are simple. In its leanest form, a Data Catalog presents as a search bar, in which any user can type in a few keywords (or even pose a question in a natural language) and obtain a list of results with the first 5 elements being the most relevant, thus providing him with all the information he needs to use the data (just like a web search engine, or an online retailer).
This ease of use is crucial to guarantee adoption by the data teams. On the user front, the Data Catalog should be a simple affair with a clean design. Like any other search or recommendations engine, however, the underlying complexity is substantial.
The good news for the customer is that this complexity is nothing for you to worry about, it’s on us.
Zeenea has invested enormously on the structure of the information (building a knowledge graph), on automation and on the search and recommendations engine. This complexity isn’t visible but it is what constitutes the value of a Data Catalog.
The obsession for simplicity is at the heart of our values. Each functionality we choose to add to the product has to tick one of the two boxes below:
- Does this functionality help deploy the catalog faster in the organization?
- Does this functionality enable the data teams to find the information more quickly in order to get on with their projects?
If neither of the questions above are answered by yes, the functionality will be discarded.
The result is that you can connect Zeenea to your operational systems, configure and feed your first metamodel, and open the catalog to the end users within a matter of days.
Of course, going forward, you’ll need to complete the metamodel, integrate other sources, etc. But the value creation is instant.
Take Away
In line with the search for simplicity, the Data Catalog need not be an expensive solution.
This is true for the implementation costs – a Data Catalog deployment does not require thousands of work hours.
We offer a deployment program between 3 to 6 weeks, that includes the onboarding, integration, and the creation of a first metamodel for 3,000 Euros. This also applies for the software costs, forget 6 figure bills!
Our starting price is 18,000 Euros per year, for 5 data stewards, 50 data consumers, and 3 types of connectors.
Download our eBook: The 7 lies of Data Catalog Providers for more!
