Databases are the backbone of an organization. Databases store information and are the main repository of all data for a given application or project. Databases are created and modified on a regular basis and usually have to be upgraded from time to time. Databases not only include data but also rules about how to use the data. These rules form a model of an organization’s information management system (IMS).
A data catalog is metadata management tools specifically designed to assist companies find, manage and view large quantities of data including multiple tables, documents and databases stored on their own ERP, in their finance, human resources and e-commerce applications and other sources such as social networking feeds. Metadata refers to the unique characteristics of a data item such as its format, size, index and even what color it should be used with. This ‘meta’ tag can be used by any software to construct a description about the data item such as what it should be used for and how many users are allowed to access it. Metadata management tools are therefore extremely important for data cataloging.
There are many different types of data catalog tools and one of the most popular is the relational database management tool (RDM) which is also known as the RDBMS or the relational database management system. Other popular forms of RDBMS include the data warehouse management system (DDMS) and the content management database (CMD) among others. However, these two forms are different from each other in terms of how they work and what role they play in an organization. The data catalog tools act as a database access system allowing access to databases when the user is authorized to do so. They are however more database access oriented than RDBMSs.
