Semarchy xDG overview

Introduction to Semarchy xDG

Semarchy xDG is a data catalog and data governance solution designed for managing complex environments and large-scale data initiatives.

For data teams navigating intricate environments, Semarchy xDG serves as a comprehensive data catalog that offers a thorough and measurable overview of their data assets, facilitating informed and prompt actions. Unlike most data catalogs, Semarchy xDG collects and exposes not only data assets but also customizable metrics to enhance decision-making and efficiency.

For governance stakeholders tasked with defining and overseeing large-scale programs, Semarchy xDG stands as a robust data governance platform. It provides accurate, real-time insights into enterprise data governance, empowering them to develop initiatives with confidence. Unlike other data governance products, Semarchy xDG harvests, measures, and aggregates data assets and metrics to provide specialized insight and clear visibility into governance efforts.

Concepts

Multi-layer governance

Semarchy xDG is a multi-layer tool that provides governance capabilities to support the requirements of multiple user personas. It is designed on the principle that both assets and metrics are required for steering governance activities.

Semarchy xDG facilitates organizing and managing assets and metrics across various layers:

  • Technical: encompasses technical assets (typically, data catalog metadata), including datasets such as databases, tables, reports, and files.

  • Operational: covers assets representing data in action, including data flows and transformations.

  • Business: comprises assets representing data from the perspective of business stakeholders, including applications and processes.

  • Strategic: pertains to assets representing high-level business or governance objectives and initiatives.

This tiered approach fulfills distinct functions and meets the needs of different personas:

  • The technical and operational metadata layers primarily serve technical and data discovery purposes. They function as a data catalog and a metadata and data observation platform.

  • The business metadata layer fits business purposes and is intended for business users and stakeholders.

  • The governance layer targets C-level users, focusing on governance oversight and decision-making.

Assets and metrics

Within this framework, each layer encompasses:

  • Assets—that is, technical (data assets, reports, etc.), operational (flows), business (applications, roles, rules), and governance data-related resources linked through relationships. These relationships facilitate vertical (e.g., containers-type) and horizontal (e.g., lineage or impact) associations. At the highest level, the generic metadata concept comprises initiatives, domains, etc.

  • Metrics—that is, quantifiable measures or indicators associated with assets, either harvested or computed from metadata and data at every level. These metrics serve various use cases, such as data quality and data observation, data usage, and infrastructure monitoring. At the higher levels, metrics are only aggregated or computed to support governance program monitoring.

Governance organization

Semarchy xDG offers a range of artifacts to streamline asset organization and governance efforts:

  • Tags: used for establishing a user-driven organization, also known as folksonomy.

  • Business terms: defined within business glossaries and organized in term groups, serving as both taxonomy and ontology to represent organizational knowledge and best practices.

  • Domains: organizational categories for grouping related assets. Domains can be centrally managed or delegated to domain owners, with each asset assigned to only one domain at a time.

  • Initiatives: aid in asset organization and management within a domain, providing easy access for various teams or stakeholders in a company. Initiatives typically group assets that belong to a project or program, from the perspective of a specific governance layer.

  • Ownership: defines relationships between assets, business terms, domains, initiatives, and users or user groups. Ownership comes in various types (e.g., an asset can have technical owners or business owners).