The benefits of data are realized when data is discoverable, available and accessible. Knowing what data is available, important, and how it is defended gives the Army an operational advantage.

In order to become a data-enabled organization, the Army provides the Army Data Catalog (ADC). The catalog is an interactive electronic registry that allows discovery the Army’s Authoritative Data Sources and enables the development, refinement, integration, and maintenance of the Army’s ever-more-critical data assets.

Currently, the Army has disparate, isolated data sources, which limit data sharing, hinders the speed of decision making at echelon, and prohibits the use of current and emerging cloud capabilities, including evolving artificial intelligence and machine learning services and tools.

To evolve the Army into a more information based organization, data will need to be unleashed for utilization across mission areas. This effort will help gain better insight, maintain technical overmatch, and ensure operational advantage over the adversaries.

When data owners, decision makers, stewards, engineers, analysts, and scientists are able to easily find, understand, access, and use data and associated metadata, they will be able to use the best data and analytics resources for their projects, achieve faster results, and make better decisions.

• Act as the Army-Wide Authoritative Source for Authoritative Data Sources
• Provide Army-wide IT System Metadata Management
• Provide Visibility into Army Data Assets for Effective Use and Reuse
• Analytics Cataloging and Governance
• Enable Data Standard Conformance
• Serve as Army Source for DoD and Federal-Level Data Visibility

Data Objects: Data Objects define the broad concepts of the information available to the enterprise - Contracts, Personnel, Facilities, etc. - and their attributes. Data Objects are the heart of information discovery in ADC.

Data Sources: Systems that physically contain the data and will ultimately be accessed to achieve an end goal.

System Interfaces: Describe how information flows between systems

APIs: ADC catalogs the data available via APIs and how to access those APIs. The APIs themselves are in the respective Data Sources.

Data Standards: Reference data models based on defined standards, such as NIEM or GFM DI.

Analytics: A catalog of the major implemented uses of data enterprise-wide. Used to discover, use and re-use solutions already in place that leverage enterprise data.

ADC is based on the Collibra Data Governance Center COTS platform. It is an industry-leading metadata management, data cataloging and data governance platform.

It is implemented within the cArmy Cloud and is able to auto-discover metadata from some of our most important Army systems.

The Office of the Secretary of Defense is using the same technology and a Federation strategy is underway that will provide DoD-wide visibility of Army metadata and data sources.