Oracle Corporation
GENERATING EXTERNAL IDENTIFIERS FOR DATA ENTITIES USING A DATA CATALOG SYSTEM

Abstract:

A data catalog system is disclosed that provides capabilities for uniquely identifying and retrieving data entities stored in diverse data sources managed by an organization. The data catalog system includes capabilities for generating a unique external identifier for a data entity (e.g., a data asset or a data object) by identifying a set of immutable configuration parameters associated with the data asset and identifying a set of data object attributes that uniquely identify data objects within the data asset. The generated unique external identifiers are stored as part of the metadata harvested by the data catalog system. The external identifiers are used to enforce a single representation of the data assets and the data objects in the data catalog system. The external object identifiers are used to perform data lookups and reconcile states of data entities during the metadata harvesting process.