Data Catalog Specification Best Practices

Specification Best Practices

• The specification name should match the report that is generated.
• Be descriptive.
• Use title case “Student Enrollment” not “Student enrollment”.
• Omit "A", "An", and "The" from the beginning of the name.
• Use the complete word “Average GPA” not “AVG GPA”.
• Use the Location (Loc) field on Definitions Tab to indicate where the data will appear.
  • Example: Header, Column label, X Axis, Row label
• Use the Reference (Ref) fields on Definitions Tab to indicate the exact language in a label used in the report for the data that corresponds to the definition.
  • Examples: Definitions is Race, but the report uses "Ethnicity".
• The definition is “First Year Student”, but the report uses “Freshman”.
• Describe calculations unique to this report in the Aggregation section.
• Do not provide a detailed list of data elements in the description on the Overview Tab.
• Indicate how to request access to the report in the Overview Tab under Access.