Hamilton College Data Cookbook

What is the Data Cookbook?

The Data Cookbook is a metadata repository that serves as the authoritative source for:

• Data fields
• Standard report and dashboard specifications
• Business glossary
• Report and ETL catalogs
• Data lineage

It ensures consistent definitions and promotes transparency, collaboration, and data literacy across departments.

Key Components of the Data Cookbook:

Definitions

Definition (or Data Definition) are Data Cookbook objects representing words or phrases that refer to an object, person, business concept, measurement, metric, etc., in use at your organization. Each definition is managed through a definition approval workflow and with impact analysis features.

Specifications

Specifications are the Data Cookbook objects that describe your reporting deliverables, such as reports, spreadsheets, dashboards, extracts, database views, or tables in a data store.  Each specification is managed through a specification approval workflow and with the impact analysis feature.

Collections

A collection is a group of specifications related by topic or purpose. Collections are reviewed and approved using a separate workflow approval process. 

Reference Data

Reference data are the lists of codes that define the valid values for data elements within your different systems. Examples of reference data include gender, ethnicity, phone type, grades, academic program, majors, and general ledger codes.

All Data Governance Resources