Using the Business Glossary

The business glossary provides a central and shared repository for defining terms and describing how and where they're used in the business.

A business glossary can promote a common, consistent understanding of business terms within your organization. The definitions provide context for the terms, and the term relationships provide additional meaning. Term relationships are links to other terms, KPIs, and assets. Aim to use the business glossary enterprise-wide or division-wide and make the terms as clear and understandable as possible. For example, what does "Sales" mean to your organization? Is it currency exchanged for goods or services? Is it a discounted price on a product? Both definitions are correct, and creating the correct definition for your organization helps reduce ambiguity.

When you create a glossary, you can choose a reference template or you can define the glossary without a template. A reference template pulls the definition and custom attributes from an existing glossary. Any changes in the definition or custom attributes are not changed in any other glossaries; rather, it is unique to this glossary that you created. After you save the glossary, it appears in the list of reference templates for any glossaries that are created in the future.

You can add all types of information in your term definition. For example, you can add links to external sites, pictures, and different fonts.

You can create a set of custom attributes for a term. The attributes can be free text or validated using minimum and maximum values or lookup tables. You can set the extra fields as required or optional. You can group the input fields into separate tabs or together on one tab. Create labels for the fields that add context and offer guidance for users when they create terms. For example, you can create a Quality Assurance group with defined custom attributes that contain a Definition Date option and require that the option is defined. You can also create an Approved attribute that is optional.

You can also define the category hierarchy. Subject matter experts create and define the terms, create term relationships, and place them in the categories. Then they publish the term so everyone in the organization can view the terms. When business users have questions about terms, they search the business glossary and find the definition and term relationships.