Understand how the Data and Information Inventory relates to other inventories - Data and Information Inventory and Attributes

Understand how the Data and Information Inventory relates to other inventories

(Chapter 5 of Data and Information Inventory and Attributes)

Executive Summary: Chapter Overview

IF4IT

The Bottom Line

This chapter maps the Data and Information Inventory to the other Enterprise Model inventories that produce, consume, carry, store, classify, or deploy data types. The central point is that the inventory becomes powerful when its Semantic IDs are used as governed relationship targets across capabilities, applications, integrations, data stores, sensitivity classifications, and deployment pipelines.

Core Concepts

Concept	Definition & Strategic Role
Integration Payload	Integration Payload values are discovery inputs and relationship links for governed Data and Information types. They help convert informal integration descriptions into explicit references to Semantic IDs.
Capability Inputs and Outputs	Capability records reference the data types they consume and produce. These links show how business and IT capabilities depend on governed information flows.
Authoritative Application	The Authoritative Application identifies the system of record for a data type. This relationship supports ownership clarity, system-of-record maps, and rationalization decisions.

Quick Q&A

Question: How do other inventories make the Data and Information Inventory more useful?

Answer: Other inventories turn data type definitions into actionable relationships. Integrations identify payloads, capabilities identify inputs and outputs, applications identify authoritative sources, and data stores identify physical housing, allowing the Enterprise Model to answer impact, ownership, lineage, and compliance questions across inventory boundaries.

The Data and Information Inventory has a direct seeding relationship with the Integrations Inventory and Attributes. The Integration Payload attribute on every Integration record is a reference to a Data and Information type. When the Integrations Inventory is populated before the Data and Information Inventory is formally established, the distinct Payload values across all integration records become the discovery list for the first pass of this inventory — every distinct Payload value is a candidate Data and Information Noun Instance. The Integrations Inventory is authoritative for Integration records; this inventory is authoritative for Data and Information type definitions. The connecting attributes are Integration Payload on the integration side and Semantic ID on the data type side.

The Data and Information Inventory connects to the Capabilities Inventory and Attributes through the Key Input Data and Information and Key Output Data and Information attributes on Capability records. Every Capability that produces or consumes a named data type references that type’s Semantic ID. When this inventory is published and mature, those references become governed links rather than descriptive text. The Producing Capabilities and Consuming Capabilities relationship attributes in this inventory are derived from those Capability records.

The Data and Information Inventory connects to the Applications Inventory and Attributes through the Authoritative Application relationship attribute. Every Data and Information type has at most one Application that is its system of record — derived from the Authoritative Source attribute. The Applications Inventory carries a complementary attribute listing the data types for which each Application is authoritative. Together, these attributes produce the enterprise’s system-of-record map.

The Data and Information Inventory connects to the Data Stores Inventory (not yet published — refer to the IF4IT Enterprise Inventory Management Best Practices document). The Housing Data Stores and Source of Truth Store relationship attributes reference specific Data Store records. The Data Stores Inventory is authoritative for the physical containers; this inventory is authoritative for the logical types they contain.

The Data and Information Inventory connects to the Data Sensitivity Types Inventory through the Sensitivity Classification attribute. Every classification value in this inventory is a governed reference to a Data Sensitivity Type record. The Data Sensitivity Types Inventory defines the classifications; this inventory applies them at the type level.

The Data and Information Inventory connects to the Systems Deployment Pipelines Inventory (not yet published — refer to the IF4IT Enterprise Inventory Management Best Practices document) through the Related Systems Deployment Pipelines relationship attribute. Systems Deployment Pipelines move Data and Information types across environments, including Production-to-non-Production flows that require data sanitization governance.

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