Discovering Data Domains and Products in Data Meshes Using Semantic Blueprints

Abstract

Nowadays, one of the greatest challenges in data meshes revolves around detecting and creating data domains and data products for providing the ability to adapt easily and quickly to changing business needs. This requires a disciplined approach to identify, differentiate and prioritize distinct data sources according to their content and diversity. The current paper tackles this highly complicated issue and suggests a standardized approach that integrates the concept of data blueprints with data meshes. In essence, a novel standardization framework is proposed that creates data products using a metadata semantic enrichment mechanism, the latter also offering data domain readiness and alignment. The approach is demonstrated using real-world data produced by multiple sources in a poultry meat production factory. A set of functional attributes is used to qualitatively compare the proposed approach to existing data structures utilized in storage architectures, with quite promising results. Finally, experimentation with different scenarios varying in data product complexity and granularity suggests a successful performance.