Data Dictionary

Owned by Saparnell
Last updated: Nov 14, 2024
3 min read

What a Data Dictionary

The Data Dictionary is an authoritative dictionary of glossary and information assets defined by the UC San Diego Data Definition Committees. It is a tool enabling creation, management, and sharing of vocabulary, business terms and related data attributes within a centralized catalog. The Data Dictionary supports the understanding of data asset business definitions and allows users to shop for data by searching for information that is meaningful to their department or area. Users can establish collections of assets and run lineage reports to examine data flow between assets.

BIA makes the Data Dictionary available via the Activity Hub Field List Report.


Access

The Activity Hub Field List Report is automatically available to all active employees (AD Group = Active Employee), ITS students and ITS consultants.  If your department's student workers, consultants or contracts would like access to the Activity Hub File List Report, please email busintel@ucsd.edu with the name of the appropriate Active Directory (AD) group that will need access.


How to Use the Activity Hub Field List Report



Term Details

Term Details include the following:

  • Activity Hub = Abbreviation of the Activity Hub the field is found in.
  • View = Final Curated View (FCV) name the field is found in.
  • Field Name = this is the field name see in the Activity Hubs
  • P Level Access = UCOP Protection Level Classification as set by the Data Steward.
  • Column Definition =  Business definition approved by the data definition committee.
  • Data Type = Indicates the type of data within the field.
  • Field Length = Maximum length of the value in the field.
  • Can Be Null = Indicates if the field value can be null.


Data Dictionary Update Process

1) Request

Requests or modifications can be emailed to busintel@ucsd.edu with the following information.  New data being added to an Activity Hub are automatically added to the list of terms to be added to the data dictionary.

  • Field Name
  • Column Definition
  • Example

2) Define

Each Activity Hub has a Data Definitions Committee or equivalent work group that meet to discuss Term Field Names and Definitions.  Subject matter experts from across UCSD are invited as needed or as regular member in order to provide feedback.

/wiki/spaces/EAH/pages/1332969633

/wiki/spaces/FacAH/pages/53215766

/wiki/spaces/FinAH/pages/53609230

/wiki/spaces/SAH/pages/18354378

4) Upload

Approved definitions are uploaded to the Data Dictionary as part of the BIA monthly release cycle.