How To Approach a Documentation Initiative

High-quality documentation is the foundation of effective data discovery. By enriching your assets with clear, consistent, and searchable metadata, teams ensure that data can be easily understood, trusted, and reused. The better documented your assets are, the more autonomous your teams become.

However, launching a documentation initiative can be daunting as the scope can be intimidating. This section is for you.

• You're part of your company governance team and have to launch a documentation initiative but don't really know how to go about it in Catalog
• Or you've been appointed owner of several assets in Catalog and don't know where to start or how to document them

We recommend following these five initial steps to start documenting in Catalog.

Use this table to open the step that matches where you are in the rollout:

Method	Best for
Step 1: Create Your Domains	Defining domains, generating domain tags, and assigning domain owners before you expand scope.
Step 2: Tag Your Assets	Applying domain tags across tables, views, dashboards, reports, and knowledge pages so each domain has a clear footprint.
Step 3: Create Key Metrics and Glossary Terms	Capturing KPIs and business glossary entries that anchor how each domain talks about its data.
Step 4: Assign Ownership	Giving tables, dashboards, and knowledge pages accountable owners after the first documentation pass.
Step 5: Set Targets and Execute	Breaking remaining documentation into sprints, using templates, and tracking progress with analytics.