dataspot. is a privately-owned consultancy company and a service and technology provider headquartered in Vienna, Austria. Founded in 2016, the company currently has 32 employees (plus 15 freelancers) and operates mainly in the DACH region. dataspot. started out as a data governance consultancy before developing its own data cataloging software for metadata management. Today, it provides a data governance solution and metadata management software, data excellence consulting and education services.
dataspot.’s software is strongly aligned with its data governance framework known as the Data Excellence Framework©. The framework helps to develop data governance in a step-by-step approach that takes all relevant strategic and organizational factors into account. The software can either be used independently or in combination with the framework. dataspot. software provides metadata-based cataloging and advanced data governance functionality, such as data quality, around a business data model. The company strongly believes that data governance must be business-driven to be successful. By combining its software and framework, dataspot. wants customers to build a proper data strategy, data culture and literacy for successful data governance.
The software focuses more on business users than on technical users. Nevertheless, technical data models have also been integrated and technical users are supported. The vendor’s customer base is still small with no emphasis on any particular industry sector.
The solution, which is based on open standards, is available on-premises, as Software as a Service. It’s container-based architecture can be operated in MS Azure, AWS or the Google Cloud.
The centrally stored metadata can be accessed via various integration capabilities (e.g., REST/APIs) or searched, used and analyzed via a user-friendly, web-based user interface. Users can navigate metadata with different modules depending on what they are looking to achieve. The functions provided in the modules are aligned with the Data Excellence Framework© and should guide the user through the data governance process in a self-explanatory way.
The solution comes as a standalone product providing everything “out of the box” that the customer needs to follow the Metadata Framework (e.g., business data model, reference data model, KPI dictionary, data product and data quality catalog, technical and organizational models, etc.).
To cover specific catalog or data governance requirements, the software is fully configurable and metadata storage is open for any changes. Moreover, concepts are in place to serve multiple business data models in parallel and to link them together (e.g., separate views for local entities). dataspot. relies on an open metadata model and standard interfaces to enable integration with the surrounding ecosystem and metadata exchange.
Recent updates include enhanced UI/UX features, such as advanced search capabilities and a tag manager for consistent tag lists. Additional technical improvements include support for JSON schema and XML schema, new connectors, and direct SQL access for additional integration use cases. The latest versions also have enhanced support for data products, which can now be treated as a unique asset type within the dataspot. catalog.
