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Data Catalogs, Classification and Taxonomy
Make your data discoverable, trusted and usable with the right structure, visibility and governance.
Data Catalogs, Classification and Taxonomy
Data catalogs, classification schemes and business taxonomies provide the structure needed to make data assets discoverable, understandable and governed across the enterprise. These foundational capabilities help organisations avoid duplication, reduce risk and make data available for decision-making, innovation and compliance.
At Claria, we help organisations design and implement these foundations so that their data becomes an asset, not a liability, as it grows.
Our Clients
Businesses that have trusted us
The benefits of getting Data Catalogs, Classifications and Taxonomies right
Improved data discoverability and self-service
Data catalogs provide a centralised inventory of data assets, enabling users to easily find and understand the data available to them.
Better data governance and compliance
Classifying data based on sensitivity, purpose and regulatory obligations (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA) ensures appropriate controls are applied across systems.
Stronger semantic consistency
A shared taxonomy aligns teams on terminology and definitions, reducing misinterpretation and improving integration between systems.
Faster onboarding and reuse
With clear definitions and metadata, new staff and systems can onboard more quickly and reuse existing assets instead of duplicating work.
Trusted reporting and analytics
Knowing the source, lineage and context of data builds confidence in dashboards, KPIs and strategic decisions.
How can we help you and what do we do?
At Claria, we work at the intersection of structure and adoption. We help organisations shape cataloging strategies that reflect how their teams use data, not just where it sits. We help make sure your catalog, classification models and taxonomies stay usable and relevant, day to day, quarter to quarter.
Get in touchOur Data Services
Data catalog tool evaluation and implementation
Support with selecting and configuring platforms such as Collibra, Alation, Informatica and Microsoft Purview.
Metadata harvesting across systems
Extraction and centralisation of metadata from data lakes, cloud storage, databases and SaaS platforms.
Development of classification schemes
Creation of frameworks aligned to regulatory, operational and business value dimensions.
Definition and governance of business taxonomies
Structuring consistent terminology to improve clarity, searchability and integration across teams.
Integration with governance, lineage and quality frameworks
Ensuring your catalog fits within broader data management structures.
Training and adoption support
Practical enablement for the people who will maintain and use the catalog across roles and departments.
The technologies we use at Claria
We work with tools that make your data understandable, not just accessible.
Choosing the right platform is about whether people will actually use it, whether it fits your governance model and whether it can grow with your architecture. At Claria, we help organisations move beyond technology selection and into long-term usability.
We work across a wide landscape of technologies
Data catalog and governance tools
Metadata connectors and ETL platforms
Cloud-native integrations
Integration with data quality and lineage tools for end-to-end visibility
Data discovery, mapping and documentation tools
How to tackle these projects?
At Claris, we guide teams through each step to ensure your Data Catalogs, Classifications and Taxonomies are not only well-designed, but actually adopted and maintained over time.
Get in touchHere's how to approach it:
1. Start with a use case and business value
Define who needs access to what data, for what purpose and what challenges they face. Use this to shape priorities for cataloging and classification.
2. Map your data estate
Identify key data sources, repositories and flows. Use automated metadata harvesting where possible to populate your catalog
3. Develop a classification framework
Define categories such as sensitivity (e.g. public, internal, confidential), data type (e.g. PII, financial) and criticality to operations
4. Design a business taxonomy
Create a shared vocabulary that aligns data with business functions, processes and reporting needs.
5. Involve data stewards and owners
Assign responsibility for metadata, descriptions and classifications. Provide them with tools and workflows to manage their domains
6. Integrate with governance and access control
Ensure catalog and classification metadata drives policies for access, retention and compliance.
7. Promote adoption
Provide training, promote success stories and embed catalog use into day-to-day tools like BI dashboards and data notebooks.
Common mistakes made in Data Catalogs, Classifications and Taxonomies initiatives
Structure without clarity rarely sticks.
Catalogs, classifications and taxonomies often start strong with the right tools and good intentions. But when the groundwork isn’t fully in place, these efforts lose traction quickly. What should bring consistency ends up creating new layers of confusion.
Here are some of the most common patterns we see when organisations struggle to get lasting value from their data cataloging efforts.
Choosing a catalog tool before defining business needs
Without a clear use case, catalog projects often stall or become shelfware.
Treating metadata as an IT-only concern
Metadata needs business context and ownership to be valuable and sustainable.
Overcomplicating taxonomies
Too much complexity makes classification unusable. Start simple and evolve.
Ignoring integration with other frameworks
Standalone catalogs without ties to data quality, lineage and governance lose much of their power.
Failing to drive user adoption
If people don’t use it, it doesn’t matter how well it’s built.
Why choose Claria
We don’t just deliver solutions. We shape what makes them work.
At Claria, we bring structure to complexity, not with rigid templates, but through a deep understanding of how your systems, teams and data actually operate.
We work at the point where architecture meets adoption, where tools need to serve people, where policies meet platforms and where data has to be both trusted and usable.
You choose us when:
You need clarity across a tangled ecosystem
You want architecture that reflects your real-world workflows
You’re tired of shelfware that no one maintains
You’re ready to connect your data to decisions without reinventing your business in the process
Talk to our Data Catalogs, Classifications and Taxonomies Team
Send us a message and we’ll get right back to you.
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