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 Inventories > Data.
2. In the edit area, click the Business Dictionaries tile.
3. Select the Business Dictionaries tab.
4. Click New.
5. Indicate:
• the name of the Business Dictionary
• the owner (optional)
• a description (optional)
6. Click OK.
From the Hierarchy View of the business dictionaries you can create concepts and terms, as well as concept domains.
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 folder that concerns the concept.
2. Click the business dictionary icon then New > Business Information Building Block.
3. As Object Type, select "Concept".
4. Click Next.
5. Enter the Name of the concept.
6. 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.7. In the Definition Text field, enter the text of the concept definition.
8. Click Next to associate an image with the concept or OK to finish.
Concept Domain
A concept domain is a sub-set of elements of a business dictionary that reduces the scope of a field.
To create a concept domain:
1. Click the navigation menu then Inventories > Data.
2. In the edit area, click the Business Dictionaries tile.
3. Select the Concept Domains tab.
4. Click New.
Concept Domain Map
A concept domain map is a business information urbanization tool. It represents the concept domains of a business dictionary and their dependency links.
Creating a Concept Domain Map
To create a concept domain map:
1. Click the navigation menu then Inventories > Data.
2. In the edit area, click the Business Dictionaries tile.
3. Select the Concept Domain Maps tab.
4. Click New.
The map appears in the list.
Defining the map components
To add a concept domain to the concept domain map:
1. Select from the list of concept domain maps the one you want to define.
2. From the tree on the right, select the concept domains 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 concept domains thus added are internal components of the map; they are part of the scope of the concept domain 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 concept domain from a concept domain map:
1. Select the relevant concept domain 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 concept domain map
In the properties of a concept domain map, reports allow you to visualize:
• The hierarchy of concept domains in a map, and whether these concept domains use sensitive or reference data. For more details, see Data Domain Map.
• Dependencies between concept domains of the map
• Use of information of a concept domain 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 for classifying data such as concepts or classes. You can define one or more categories on the data.
Examples of data classification:
• Sensitive data
• Reference data
• Confidential data
• etc.
Importing the module of Categories
To use the categories, you must import the "Data Categories" module in your environment.
To import a module in HOPEX, see Importing a Module into HOPEX.
Accessing the list of categories
To access the list of categories:
1. With the "Data Asset Manager" profile, click the navigation menu then Inventories > Data.
2. Click the Data Categories tile.
The list of categories delivered by default appears in the edit area, with their description. You can create new categories.
Indicating the Category of a Data Item
You can define the category of a data in the data properties.
You can also specify the category when you connect 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 Data Categories Dendrogram 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.