Every once in a while, I wake up in the middle of the night and don’t feel like reading a book. This happened a few weeks ago and I started thinking about business information and the alphabet. I decided to try to come up with a sentence that described some aspect of a healthy data ecosystem using the first letter of the alphabet as the beginning of a sentence. The letter “X” required a little cheating.

The process of managing data and turning it into useable information requires capture, storage, cleaning, transformation, database schema, visualization tools and consumption environments. I’m actually working on a book to describe all of these aspects in a way that non-technical people can understand how it all fits together. Until then, this ABC list was a fun, middle-of-the-night distraction.

The Flow and Attributes of a Healthy Data Ecosystem

All data sources from everywhere for everything.

Better data must be extracted, transformed and loaded. 

Curate the information and make it accessible and interactive.

Decentralize the preparation, presentation and participation.

Enable and encourage discovery. EXASOL for big data.

Fluid processes for finding what’s needed for flexible data flows.

Govern access without bureaucracy.

Harvest information from raw data to curated information.

Inquire, Investigate, integrate and inform.

Justify investments with a small proof of concept.

Keep it safe and accessible.

Let them play.

Make them accountable.

Never make it difficult. Nodes are for Neo4j.

Open to new materials, tools, methods and machinery.

Prepare your people, process and systems.

Quick answers to questions.

Repeatable, reliable and rapid methods.

Speedy responses and documented sources.

Telling verified stories that people remember and trust.

User groups encourage über competence.

Variety, velocity, volume, verification and visualization.

Who, what, where, when and how.

eXtra effort for exceptional opportunities and needs.

Your people deliver relevant, timely and accurate information. 

Zealots (data zealots) should be encouraged.

Feel free to download and print the PDF version of the data alphabet (below) to keep for yourself!