Drawing up a Data Inventory in HOPEX IT Portfolio Management
In HOPEX IT Portfolio Management you can define business data (Concepts, Terms, etc.) and logical data (Classes, Attributes, etc.).
Business Dictionary
A business dictionary collects and structures a set of concepts that expresses the knowledge of a particular area.
The basic component of a business dictionary is the Concept.
A concept expresses the essential nature of a being, an object, or a word through its properties and characteristics or its specific qualities.The word that is associated with a Concept and which depends on language is a Term.
A term is a word or word group, that is used for a specific meaning in a specific context.To create a business dictionary in HOPEX IT Portfolio Management :
1. Click the navigation menu then Data Glossary > Business Dictionaries.
2. In the edit area, click Business Dictionaries.
3. Click New.
From the Hierarchy View of the business dictionaries you can create concepts and terms, as well as business information areas.
For the definition of terms see also Creating a Business Glossary in HOPEX IT Portfolio Management.
Concept
To create a concept from a business dictionary:
1. In the business dictionary hierarchy, unfold the one that concerns the concept.
2. Click the Concept folder icon then New > Concept.
3. Enter the Name of the concept.
4. The Existing Terms section lists terms with the same name as the new concept. You can choose to use an already existing term, or create a new term.
A term is a word or word group, that is used for a specific meaning in a specific context.
If a term has already been created with the same name as the new concept, this term is automatically connected and appears automatically in the Term section.5. In the Definition Text field, enter the text of the concept definition.
6. Click Next to associate an image with the concept or OK to finish.
Business information area
A business information area is a sub-set of elements of a business dictionary that reduces the scope of a field.
To create a business information area:
1. Click the navigation menu then Data Glossary > Business Dictionaries.
2. In the edit area, click Business Information Areas.
3. Click New.
Business information map
A business information map is a business information urbanization tool. It represents the business information areas of a business dictionary and their dependency links.
Creating a business information map
To create a Business Information Map:
1. Click the navigation menu then Data Dictionary > Business Dictionaries.
2. In the edit area, click Business Information Maps.
3. Click New.
The map appears in the list.
Defining the map components
To add a business information area to the business information map:
1. Select from the list of business information maps the one you want to define.
2. From the tree on the right, select the business information areas you want to include in the map and drag them to the lower part of the tree on the left, on the name of the map in question.
You can also define sub-areas by dragging them to the map areas.
The business information areas thus added are internal components of the map; they are part of the scope of the business information map (whether or not they belong to the owner business dictionary).
The external components of a map are those used in the map but that are not part of the scope analyzed. You can access them in the map properties.Removing a component from the map
To remove a business information area from a business information map:
1. Select the relevant business information map to display its components.
2. Click the icon of the component and select Remove.
A window displays the list of existing links on the selected object.
3. Select the link between the component and the relevant map.
4. Click Delete.
Analysis reports of a business information map
In the properties of a business information map, reports allow you to visualize :
• The hierarchy of business information areas in a map, and whether these areas use sensitive or reference data. For more details, see Data Domain Map.
• Dependencies between business information areas of the map
• Use of information of a business information map. See Use of information of an information map.
Data dictionary
A data dictionary collects and structures a set of logical data.
Logical data is a realization of business data (concepts). You can define logical data to describe the data used in applications (Data Store) and in flows exchanged between applications.
See also: Defining the Data Used by an Application.
Defining data categories
The data category is a mechanism to classify data such as concepts or classes. One or more categories can be defined on the data.
Examples of data classification :
• Sensitive Data
• Golden data
• Confidential data
• Etc.
Importing the category solution pack
To use the categories, you must import the corresponding solution pack.
The categories are delivered in a compressed file that you must unzip before importing into a repository.
To unzip the file:
1. In the folder where HOPEX is installed, open the Utilities folder and then the Solution Pack folder.
2. Double-click the file Information Architecture.exe.
3. Extract the contents of the file.
The categories are available under the Data Categories folder.
To import the library:
1. Run "Administration.exe" and log on with a user who has the data administration authorization.
2. Select the environment then the repository you want to work on.
3. Right click the repository and select Object Management > Import Solution Pack.
The solution pack selection window appears.
4. Select the category library and click OK.
5. Exit the administration application.
Accessing the list of categories
To access the list of categories :
1. With the "Data Manager" profile, click the navigation menu then Environment > Data Categories.
The list of categories delivered by default appears in the editing area, with their description. You can create new ones.
Indicating the category of a data
You can define the category of a data in the data properties.
You can also indicate the category when you link data to an application. See Connecting Data to an Application.
Visualizing the data of a data category
The Data Categories Dendrogram report allows you to visualize where the data of a category is used, for example in the application inventory.
To launch this report:
1. Click the navigation menu then Reports > Data Reports.
2. In the edit area, click the Dendrogram Data Categories tile.
3. Select the required data category.
You can also run a report from a portfolio of applications to view data from specific categories used by the applications in that portfolio.
To launch the report on a portfolio of applications:
1. Open the properties of the portfolio in question.
2. Click Reports > Data Category of Portfolio Dendrogram.
Importing Data in HOPEX IT Portfolio Management
Two Excel templates are available for importing and exporting data:
• The "Concept Template" to import a list of terms with their definitions, synonyms, etc. See Importing Business Data from an Excel File.
• The "Data Excel Template" template to import classes, attributes, parts, etc. See Importing Logical Data from an Excel File.
Importing classes can result in the creation of concepts or the linking to concepts that exist under the same names. In this way, business and logical data are automatically linked. This mechanism is used to initialize a business dictionary. It can be configured using the Business dictionary initialization option. For more details, see Initializing a Business Dictionary Using Logical or Physical Data.