Data and Information Inventory and Attributes

Applications are the primary organizational systems that own, produce, and consume Data and Information types. The Applications Inventory is authoritative for Application records; the Data and Information Inventory is authoritative for data type definitions. The connecting relationship is the system-of-record designation: every Data and Information type has at most one Application that is its Authoritative Application — derived from the Authoritative Source attribute. The Applications Inventory and Attributes is published and available.

When this relationship is well-governed, APM can answer: which applications are systems of record for high-sensitivity data types? Which applications that are rationalization candidates own data types with no alternative authoritative source? What is the data migration scope of retiring any given application? These questions are impossible to answer without the connection between the Applications Inventory and the Data and Information Inventory.

The relationship is bidirectional: the Applications Inventory carries attributes referencing data types for which each application is authoritative or a primary consumer. The Data and Information Inventory carries the Authoritative Application relationship attribute pointing back to the Application record. Together, these two inventories produce the enterprise’s system-of-record map.