Browse Definitions :
Definition

data context

Data context is the network of connections among data points. Those connections may be created as metadata or simply identified and correlated. Contextual metadata adds value, essentially making it possible to receive information from data.  

A single data point on its own is useless. Take the number 42. It may suggest possible contexts -- it could be a cool weather temperature in the Fahrenheit scale, for example, or it could be Bill Clinton, the forty-second president of the United States. If the context is pop culture, it's likely to refer to the meaning of life: In Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 42 is the number from which all meaning ("the meaning of life, the universe, and everything") could be derived. 

Without context, the number 42 cannot yield information and will not help any individual or organization achieve their goals and objectives. The addition of context is particularly crucial for realizing value from big data, which by nature of its volume must be automatically processed.

In business analytics (BA), gathering context from external sources can provide useful information about events that have significance for the organization. Context for an unexplained surge in sales, for example, could be provided by pulling in data from news and social media as well as less obvious sources, such as weather over that period. Explored in context, it may be able to identify external causes for the increase, and that information might be used to guide future business decisions.

This was last updated in July 2017

Continue Reading About data context

Networking
  • remote infrastructure management

    Remote infrastructure management, or RIM, is a comprehensive approach to handling and overseeing an organization's IT ...

  • port address translation (PAT)

    Port address translation (PAT) is a type of network address translation (NAT) that maps a network's private internal IPv4 ...

  • network fabric

    'Network fabric' is a general term used to describe underlying data network infrastructure as a whole.

Security
CIO
  • digital innovation

    Digital innovation is the adoption of modern digital technologies by a business.

  • business goals

    A business goal is an endpoint, accomplishment or target an organization wants to achieve in the short term or long term.

  • vertical SaaS (software as a service)

    Vertical SaaS describes a type of software as a service solution created for a specific industry, such as retail, financial ...

HRSoftware
  • employee onboarding and offboarding

    Employee onboarding involves all the steps needed to get a new employee successfully deployed and productive, while offboarding ...

  • skill-based learning

    Skill-based learning develops students through hands-on practice and real-world application.

  • gamification

    Gamification is a strategy that integrates entertaining and immersive gaming elements into nongame contexts to enhance engagement...

Customer Experience
  • Microsoft Dynamics 365

    Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based portfolio of business applications from Microsoft that are designed to help organizations improve ...

  • Salesforce Commerce Cloud

    Salesforce Commerce Cloud is a cloud-based suite of products that enable e-commerce businesses to set up e-commerce sites, drive ...

  • Salesforce DX

    Salesforce DX, or SFDX, is a set of software development tools that lets developers build, test and ship many kinds of ...

Close