Data and Information Inventory and Attributes

The Data and Information Inventory is the authoritative enterprise record of every named, governed type of data or information the enterprise produces, consumes, stores, or transmits. Each Noun Instance in this inventory is a single, uniquely identified Data and Information type — a discrete class of content with its own Semantic ID, its own owner, its own sensitivity classification, its own authoritative source, and its own governance obligations. The inventory governs both data (structured and schema-bound content such as relational records, JSON payloads, and CSV files) and information (unstructured or semi-structured content such as PDF documents, images, audio files, and email bodies) under a single Noun Type, using the Structure attribute to distinguish their intrinsic form. Without a governed Data and Information Inventory, enterprises cannot consistently classify, protect, route, or reason about the content that flows through every system, integration, and capability in the portfolio. The Data and Information Inventory is the data layer of the Enterprise Model. Every other inventory in the IF4IT taxonomy either produces, consumes, stores, or transmits Data and Information types. Capabilities consume input data types and produce output data types. Integrations carry data and information types as their Payload. Applications are authoritative sources or primary consumers of data types. Data Stores physically house instances of data types. This inventory provides the governed vocabulary that makes those cross-inventory relationships precise — replacing informal references such as “customer data” or “financial records” with governed, Semantic-ID-carrying Noun Instances that both human practitioners and AI agents can traverse without ambiguity. It is also the primary governance instrument for data sensitivity, retention, disposal, and regulatory compliance at the type level, connecting the enterprise’s data governance program to its regulatory obligations, security architecture, and AI governance framework. This document is part of the IF4IT Enterprise Inventory Management taxonomy — the master catalog of all Noun Types the enterprise recognizes and tracks. The general principles that govern inventory design, schema definition, data quality standards, federated ownership, lifecycle management, and AI-assisted population apply to this inventory and every other inventory in the enterprise and are addressed in the IF4IT Enterprise Inventory Management Best Practices document. Practitioners should read that document alongside this one. The attribute taxonomy presented in this document is a suggested baseline — not a mandatory schema and not a complete enumeration of every possible attribute. Enterprises are explicitly encouraged to add attributes specific to their context, adapt what is here to their needs, and define what IF4IT has not yet identified.