Finding and trusting data
As pipelines grow, no one remembers every table. A data catalog is a searchable inventory of datasets with their schemas, owners, descriptions, and freshness. Lineage records how each dataset was produced from upstream sources.
What a catalog gives you
- Discovery: analysts search for a table instead of asking around.
- Context: column descriptions, ownership, and tags explain what data means.
- Governance: classify sensitive fields and control access.
What lineage gives you
- Impact analysis: before changing a source, see every downstream table that depends on it.
- Debugging: when a number looks wrong, trace it back through the transforms that built it.
- Trust: knowing the path from source to report builds confidence.
How it is built
Metadata is collected automatically by scanning warehouses, parsing SQL, and reading orchestration jobs, then surfaced in a central tool.
Key idea
A catalog makes data discoverable and trusted, while lineage shows how each dataset was produced and what depends on it.