Alation + DataBuck: Advanced Data Quality with Integrated Data Governance

Have you heard about the new industry initiative to improve data quality? It’s called the Alation Data Quality Initiative, and it aims to bring together the best features of the industry’s biggest players. The goal is to let customers integrate the best data quality tools from multiple companies in a straightforward and easy-to-use fashion – with First Eigen’s DataBuck as a key participant. 

Quick Takeaways

• The Alation Open Data Quality Initiative unites data quality and management solutions from key industry players.
• Customers can use the Open Data Quality Framework and API to easily integrate different data tools into a unified workflow.
• Key data from all participating partners is displayed in a single dashboard in the Alation Data Catalog.
• First Eigen is proud to include its DataBuck data quality management solution in the Alation Data Quality Initiative.

What is the Alation Data Quality Initiative?

The Alation Open Data Quality Initiative is a framework that opens the Alation Data Catalog to participating players in the data management industry. It enables data management solutions from different companies to work together and share data, allowing customers to integrate multiple data quality solutions in one interface. 

With the Open Data Quality Initiative, customers are no longer locked into a single data management ecosystem. Customers have the flexibility and freedom to select the best data quality and observability tools for their individual needs. 

What Does the Data Quality Initiative Do?

The initiative aims to increase data governance and access to analytics for companies that consume large amounts of data. Since data quality is a priority for these organizations, they need to be able to integrate data tools from various companies that might not otherwise work well together. 

It makes it easier for companies to choose the data quality and management tools that work best for them and not worry about integration issues. It provides a new level of interoperability and openness in the data quality space.

Why is the Alation Data Quality Initiative Necessary?

Poor quality data plagues companies of all sizes. As the old saying goes, “garbage in, garbage out,” which makes poor quality problematic for organizations that rely on it for operations and decision-making. 

Companies have long struggled with trying to ensure they’re using the highest quality data. This effort often involves a grab-bag of data management, governance, and quality solutions from multiple vendors. Companies faced not only the problem of identifying and cleaning bad data but also getting all those different data tools to work together. 

The data quality industry is filled with numerous innovative, often-specific solutions, with new technologies and approaches developed regularly. One vendor might make an advance in one area of data management, while another makes a different breakthrough in data governance, both equally valid and valuable. It’s also common for different departments within a company to seek different types of data management and quality tools based on their specific needs. It’s not a one-size-fits-all world.

So, to employ the best, most current, and most appropriate technologies, a company might have to use solutions from multiple vendors. Before the Data Quality Initiative, however, there was no guarantee that an organization could integrate these disparate tools into a single solution. The Open Data Quality Initiative changes that.

Customers want high-quality data that they can trust without the hassle of trying to integrate different solutions. By enabling participating solutions to share data among themselves, the Open Data Quality Initiative guarantees improved interoperability and observability. Customers no longer need to constantly switch between tools, as all participating tools integrate into a single data management chain. It turns a plethora of data management technologies into a single, easy-to-manage solution.

What Does the Data Quality Initiative Include?

Partners in the Open Data Quality Initiative receive access to the Open Data Quality Framework (ODQF), which includes a software development kit (SDK), open data quality API, and a developer portal that includes extensive documentation and educational tutorials that describe best practices for integration. 

These materials help participating companies provide customers with easy access to everything they need to employ tools from multiple vendors. This includes access to data quality rules, metrics, and notifications, all integrated into the Alation Data Catalog interface.

When a tool is integrated via the Data Quality Initiative, a new Data Quality tab appears in the Alation Data Catalog. This tab provides essential functionality for storing the tool’s data quality description, rules, and status information. Partners can use this tab to display data endorsement flags, warnings, and other notifications to users. In addition, partners can configure alerts within Alation to immediately notify users of data quality issues.

Who is Alation – and What Companies Are Part of the Data Quality Initiative?

Alation, the company, is a leader in enterprise data intelligence solutions. The company’s popular products include the Alation Data Catalog, Alation Data Governance App, and Alation Cloud Service. The company boasts more than 450 enterprise customers worldwide, serving more than 300,000 users. Alation’s products have, to date, indexed more than 355 million data objects.

Companies participating in the Open Data Quality Initiative include other leaders in the data quality and observability space, including:

• Acceldata
• Anomalo
• Bigeye
• Capgemini
• Experian
• First Eigen
• Fivetran
• Lightup
• Soda

First Eigen Joins Forces with Alation in the Open Data Quality Initiative

First Eigen has joined forces with Alation, including its DataBuck solution in the Open Data Quality Initiative. DataBuck’s ability to automate data quality monitoring and validation makes it an ideal component for large-scale data monitoring solutions. Alation’s open integration enables businesses to quickly execute automated data quality monitoring, provide more reliable data analysis, and make more informed business decisions – all from Alation’s data quality monitoring dashboard. 

DataBuck’s 11-vector fingerprint analysis helps to determine the accuracy, validity, and completeness of an organization’s data. All data monitored with DataBuck receives a detailed Data Trust Score (DTS), which is integrated with data from other Open Initiative tools. Users are then alerted to any questionable data entering the data pipeline, alongside data from other Alation Data Quality partners.

Contact FirstEigen today to learn more about Alation and the Data Quality Initiative.

Check out these articles on Data Trustability, Observability & Data Quality Management-

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• 12 Things You Can Do to Improve Data Quality
• How to Ensure Data Integrity During Cloud Migrations