Data Architecture

Last Updated: January 26, 2017

Definition - What does Data Architecture mean?

Data architecture is a set of rules, policies, standards and models that govern and define the type of data collected and how it is used, stored, managed and integrated within an organization and its database systems. It provides a formal approach to creating and managing the flow of data and how it is processed across an organization’s IT systems and applications.

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Techopedia explains Data Architecture

Data architecture is a broad term that refers to all of the processes and methodologies that address data at rest, data in motion, data sets and how these relate to data dependent processes and applications. It includes the primary data entities and data types and sources that are essential to an organization in its data sourcing and management needs. Typically, data architecture is designed, created, deployed and managed by a data architect.

Enterprise data architecture consists of three different layers or processes:

Conceptual/business model: Includes all data entities and provides a conceptual or semantic data model
Logical/system model: Defines how data entities are linked and provides a logical data model
Physical/technology model: Provides the data mechanism for a specific process and functionality, or how the actual data architecture is implemented on underlying technology infrastructure