Guide to developing a data inventory
The ONDC has developed the Guide to developing a data inventory to support Australian Government agencies to discover the data they hold and maintain a data inventory.
The Guide details six steps for developing, enhancing or maintaining an agency data inventory. These steps have been tested and refined by working with agencies in the Data Inventories Pilot Program.
Many stakeholders were consulted in drafting this Guide and it is supplemented by other resources available on this page.
The ONDC has a team of data experts that are available to assist agencies with their data inventory activities. To seek assistance please contact us.
Contributing to the Australian Government Data Catalogue
Australian Government agencies are encouraged to contribute their data assets to the Australian Government Data Catalogue.
We encourage Data Custodians to view our guide and template below to understand how to develop a data inventory and easily upload metadata records onto the Catalogue.
Guide on metadata attributes
Our standard methodology for data inventory development and enhancement involves implementing consistent metadata standards to describe data assets. A set of 26 metadata attributes was developed by the Data Champions Network in 2021, including 10 core attributes which are critical for data management and 16 additional attributes to further support the discovery and use of data assets.
The ONDC Guide on Metadata Attributes is a useful resource for agencies that are considering uplift of their data inventory.
Data Discovery Community of Practice
The ONDC has established a Community for Data Discovery that is hosted on the Data and Digital Professions platform. The Community of Practice is great way to make contact with colleagues who are working to develop, enhance and maintain comprehensive data asset registers and searchable data catalogues.
Webinars for the Data Discovery program were also recorded and uploaded to the Data Discovery Community of Practice for the purpose of knowledge sharing.
It is accessible to public sector employees with a gov.au email address.
We encourage agencies that are interested in developing or enhancing their data inventories to join the Data Discovery Community of Practice.
