Glossary
Data catalog
Quick answer
An inventory of a company's data assets with descriptions, owners and metadata so people can find and understand them.
Catalogs record where data lives, what fields mean and who may use it.
An existing catalog speeds up the inventory step of a licensing review.
Why Data catalog matters when licensing company data to AI
Data catalog is an inventory of a company's data assets with descriptions, owners and metadata, so people can find and understand them. It records where data lives, what fields mean and who may use it. In a licensing review, an existing catalog speeds up the inventory step by showing which systems and fields are candidates for release.
- 01Your work records
- 02Personal details removed
- 03You approve the release
- 04Licensed to AI developers
Related terms
What does a data catalog hold, and what does it leave out?#
A data catalog holds metadata about data, not the data itself. In AWS Glue, for example, the Data Catalog is a persistent metadata store, and its tables contain metadata such as column names and data types rather than records from the underlying data store.
Catalogs are usually filled two ways: automated scanning and manual entry. AWS Glue crawlers infer a data store's schema and create or update catalog tables, and scheduled runs pick up schema changes. Tables can also be created by hand, and people add what a scanner cannot know, such as business meaning and ownership.
The table below shows the kinds of metadata a catalog typically records and what each one answers when a company reviews data for an outside use such as licensing.
| Metadata type | What it records | Example | Question it answers in a review |
|---|---|---|---|
| Technical | Tables, columns, data types, partitions | A tickets table with created_at as a timestamp | What fields exist and in what format? |
| Location | Where each dataset is stored | A bucket path or database name | Which system would an extract come from? |
| Business | Plain-language definitions of fields and terms | What counts as a resolved ticket | Will an outside reader understand the fields? |
| Ownership | Owner or steward for each dataset | Support operations lead | Who can answer questions and approve use? |
| Access | Who may use the data and how access is requested | An access request routed to approvers | Who has to sign off before anything is shared? |
| Lineage | Where data came from and how it was transformed | A report table built from raw CRM exports | Is this the original record or a derived copy? |
Data catalog vs data marketplace: what is the difference?#
A data catalog is an internal discovery tool; a data marketplace is an external exchange where providers list data products and other organizations find, subscribe to or buy them. One helps your own staff find and understand data, the other moves data or access across company boundaries.
AWS Data Exchange is described as a service that helps customers find, subscribe to and use third-party data in the cloud. Snowflake Marketplace documentation describes free, limited trial and paid listings that providers publish for consumers. A catalog such as Microsoft Purview Unified Catalog, by contrast, lets users request access to data products, and the approval requests go to the involved parties inside the organization.
| Question | Data catalog | Data marketplace |
|---|---|---|
| Who uses it? | Employees inside one organization | Providers and buyers in different organizations |
| What does it list? | Metadata about the company's own data assets | Data products offered by providers |
| What changes hands? | Internal access, granted by approvers | A subscription, license or paid access under listing terms |
| Examples | AWS Glue Data Catalog, Microsoft Purview Unified Catalog | AWS Data Exchange, Snowflake Marketplace |
| What it settles | Where data is and what it means | How a listed product is found and accessed |
Which does a supplier need first, a catalog or a marketplace?#
A supplier needs to know what it holds before it can sell any of it, so an inventory comes first and a sales channel second. A marketplace listing assumes the provider has already decided what to offer, documented it and confirmed it has the right to license it.
Neither tool settles rights. A catalog does not show whether customer contracts, privacy notices or vendor terms allow the data to be licensed. That is a separate review, and counsel looks at the specific facts.
A formal catalog is not a prerequisite for licensing. With SourceX, the first step is a short company assessment, and no data uploads are needed to see if a company qualifies. SourceX then runs rights review, contracting, data preparation, delivery and payment, and the company approves exactly what is released, once per deal.
- No catalog yet: start with a simple inventory of systems, record types and date ranges.
- A catalog exists: export its owner, location and definition fields for the datasets in scope.
- Considering a marketplace listing: confirm licensing rights and de-identification needs before publishing anything.
- Unsure what is valuable: buyers generally look for years of consistent history, typically 2+ years, in one system.
Sources for this section
- The AWS Glue Data Catalog is a persistent metadata store whose tables hold metadata, not data, and crawlers populate and update it. Source
- AWS Data Exchange helps customers find, subscribe to and use third-party data in the cloud. Source
- Snowflake Marketplace documents free, limited trial and paid listings that providers publish for consumers. Source
- Microsoft Purview Unified Catalog lets users request access to data products, with approval requests sent to the involved parties. Source
Related resources
- SolutionData partnerships between businesses and AI developers
- SolutionData licensing: granting defined rights to use your data
- IndustryBPO & contact centers data
- IndustryRecruiting & staffing data
- DataSales and CRM data
- DataLegal and contract data
- GlossaryData licensing
- GlossaryDataset licensing
- QuestionDo AI companies buy private business data?
- QuestionIs selling company data legal?
- InsightCan I sell my business data to AI companies?
- InsightIs it safe to license company data for AI training?
See if your company qualifies
A short company assessment. No data uploads are needed.