D - Definitions

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  • D

    data analytics (DA)

    Data analytics (DA) is the process of examining data sets to find trends and draw conclusions about the information they contain.

  • data catalog

    A data catalog is a software application that creates an inventory of an organization's data assets to help data professionals and business users find relevant data for analytics uses.

  • data classification

    Data classification is the process of organizing data into categories that make it easy to retrieve, sort and store for future use.

  • data de-identification

    Data de-identification is decoupling or masking data, to prevent certain data elements from being associated with the individual.

  • Data Dredging (data fishing)

    Data dredging -- sometimes referred to as data fishing -- is a data mining practice in which large data volumes are analyzed to find any possible relationships between them.

  • data engineer

    A data engineer is an IT professional whose primary job is to prepare data for analytical or operational uses.

  • data integration

    Data integration is the process of combining data from multiple source systems to create unified sets of information for both operational and analytical uses.

  • data lakehouse

    A data lakehouse is a data management architecture that combines the key features and the benefits of a data lake and a data warehouse.

  • data mesh

    Data mesh is a decentralized data management architecture for analytics and data science.

  • data modeling

    Data modeling is the process of creating a simplified visual diagram of a software system and the data elements it contains, using text and symbols to represent the data and how it flows.

  • data observability

    Data observability is a process and set of practices that aim to help data teams understand the overall health of the data in their organization's IT systems.

  • data pipeline

    A data pipeline is a set of network connections and processing steps that moves data from a source system to a target location and transforms it for planned business uses.

  • data quality

    Data quality is a measure of a data set's condition based on factors such as accuracy, completeness, consistency, reliability and validity.

  • data stewardship

    Data stewardship is the management and oversight of an organization's data assets to help provide business users with high-quality data that is easily accessible in a consistent manner.

  • data structure

    A data structure is a specialized format for organizing, processing, retrieving and storing data.

  • data virtualization

    Data virtualization is an umbrella term used to describe an approach to data management that allows an application to retrieve and manipulate data without requiring technical details about the data.

  • data warehouse

    A data warehouse is a repository of data from an organization's operational systems and other sources that supports analytics applications to help drive business decision-making.

  • data warehouse as a service (DWaaS)

    Data warehouse as a service (DWaaS) is an outsourcing model in which a cloud service provider configures and manages the hardware and software resources a data warehouse requires, and the customer provides the data and pays for the managed service.

  • database (DB)

    A database is a collection of information that is organized so that it can be easily accessed, managed and updated.

  • database administrator (DBA)

    A database administrator (DBA) is the information technician responsible for directing and performing all activities related to maintaining and securing a successful database environment.

  • database as a service (DBaaS)

    Database as a service (DBaaS) is a cloud computing managed service offering that provides access to a database without requiring the setup of physical hardware, the installation of software or the need to configure the database.

  • database management system (DBMS)

    A database management system (DBMS) is a software system for creating and managing databases.

  • database replication

    Database replication is the frequent electronic copying of data from a database in one computer or server to a database in another -- so that all users share the same level of information.

  • DataOps

    DataOps is an Agile approach to designing, implementing and maintaining a distributed data architecture that will support a wide range of open source tools and frameworks in production.

  • Db2

    Db2 is a family of database management system (DBMS) products from IBM that serve a number of different operating system (OS) platforms.

  • dimension

    In data warehousing, a dimension is a collection of reference information that supports a measurable event, such as a customer transaction.

  • dimension table

    In data warehousing, a dimension table is a database table that stores attributes describing the facts in a fact table.

  • disambiguation

    Disambiguation is the process of determining a word's meaning -- or sense -- within its specific context.

  • What are data silos and what problems do they cause?

    A data silo is a repository of data that's controlled by one department or business unit and isolated from the rest of an organization, much like grass and grain in a farm silo are closed off from outside elements.

  • What is a data architect?

    A data architect is an IT professional responsible for defining the policies, procedures, models and technologies used in collecting, organizing, storing and accessing company information.

  • What is a data fabric?

    A data fabric is an architecture and software offering a unified collection of data assets, databases and database architectures within an enterprise.

  • What is a data flow diagram (DFD)?

    A data flow diagram (DFD) is a graphical or visual representation that uses a standardized set of symbols and notations to describe a business's operations through data movement.

  • What is a data lake?

    A data lake is a storage repository that holds a vast amount of raw data in its native format until it is needed for analytics applications.

  • What is a data mart (datamart)?

    A data mart is a repository of data that is designed to serve a particular community of knowledge workers.

  • What is dark data?

    Dark data is digital information an organization collects, processes and stores that is not currently being used for business purposes.

  • What is data activation?

    Data activation is a marketing approach that uses consumer information and data analytics to help companies gain real-time insight into target audience behavior and plan for future marketing initiatives.

  • What is data aggregation?

    Data aggregation is any process whereby data is gathered and expressed in a summary form.

  • What is data architecture? A data management blueprint

    Data architecture is a discipline that documents an organization's data assets, maps how data flows through IT systems and provides a blueprint for managing data, as this guide explains.

  • What is Data as a Service (DaaS)?

    Data as a Service (DaaS) is an information provision and distribution model in which data files (including text, images, sounds, and videos) are made available to customers over a network, typically the Internet.

  • What is data cleansing (data cleaning, data scrubbing)?

    Data cleansing, also referred to as data cleaning or data scrubbing, is the process of fixing incorrect, incomplete, duplicate or otherwise erroneous data in a data set.

  • What is data egress? How it works and how to manage costs

    Data egress is when data leaves a closed or private network and is transferred to an external location.

  • What is data governance and why does it matter?

    Data governance is the process of managing the availability, usability, integrity and security of the data in enterprise systems, based on internal standards and policies that also control data usage.

  • What is data management and why is it important? Full guide

    Data management is the process of ingesting, storing, organizing and maintaining the data created and collected by an organization, as explained in this in-depth guide.

  • What is data management as a service (DMaaS)?

    Data management as a service (DMaaS) is a type of cloud service that provides enterprises with centralized storage for disparate data sources.

  • What is data preprocessing? Key steps and techniques

    Data preprocessing, a component of data preparation, describes any type of processing performed on raw data to prepare it for another data processing procedure.

  • What is data profiling?

    Data profiling refers to the process of examining, analyzing, reviewing and summarizing data sets to gain insight into the quality of data.

  • What is data transformation? Definition, types and benefits

    Data transformation is the process of converting data from one format -- such as a database file, Extensible Markup Language (XML) document or Excel spreadsheet -- into another format.

  • What is data validation?

    Data validation is the practice of checking the integrity, accuracy and structure of data before it is used for or by one or more business operations.

  • What is data?

    In computing, data is information translated into a form that is efficient for movement or processing.

  • What is database normalization?

    Database normalization is intrinsic to most relational database schemes. It is a process that organizes data into tables so that results are always unambiguous.

  • What is denormalization and how does it work?

    Denormalization is the process of adding precomputed redundant data to an otherwise normalized relational database to improve read performance.

  • What is deterministic/probabilistic data?

    Deterministic and probabilistic are opposing terms that can be used to describe customer data and how it is collected. Deterministic data is also referred to as first party data. Probabilistic data is information that is based on relational patterns and the likelihood of a certain outcome.