Imagine your organization’s data as a vast collection of goods scattered across countless individual stores, each with its own layout and labeling system. Finding exactly what you need can feel like an endless, frustrating search. This is where a semantic layer can help. Think of it as your organization’s “Information Shopping Mall.”
Just as a physical mall provides a cohesive structure for shoppers to find stores, browse items, and make purchases, a semantic layer creates a unified environment for business users. It allows them to easily discover datasets from diverse sources, review connected information, and gain actionable insights. It brings together a variety of data providers (our “stores”), and their data (their “goods”) into a single, intuitive location, enabling end-users, including people, analytics tools, and agentic solutions (our “shoppers”) to find and intake precisely what they need to excel in their roles.
This analogy of the Semantic Layer as an Information Shopping Mall has proven incredibly helpful for our teams and clients. In this blog post, we’ll use this familiar background to explore the foundational elements required to build your own Semantic Layer Shopping Mall and share key lessons learned along the way.
1. Building the Mall: Creating the Structural Foundations
Before any stores can open their doors, a shopping mall needs fundamental structural elements: floors, walls, escalators, and walkways. Similarly, a semantic layer demands a well-designed technology architecture to support a seamless, connected data experience.
The core infrastructure of your semantic layer is formed by powerful tools such as Graph Databases, which connect complex relationships; Taxonomy Management Systems, for organizing data with consistent vocabularies; and Data Catalogs, which provide a directory of your data assets. Just like physical malls, no two semantic layers are identical. The unique goals and existing technological landscape of your organization will dictate the specific architecture required to build your bespoke information shopping mall. For example, an organization with a variety of data sensitivity levels and goals of creating agentic solutions may require an Identity and Access Management solution to ensure security across uses, or an organization that is keen on creating fraud detection solutions on top of a plethora of information may require a graph analytics tool.
2. Creating the Directory: Developing Categorization Models
With your Information Shopping Mall’s Infrastructure in place, the next crucial step is to design its interior layout and create a clear map for your shoppers. A well-designed store directory allows a shopper to quickly scan by product types like clothing, electronics, and toys to effortlessly navigate to the right section or store.
Your semantic layer needs precisely this type of robust core categorization model to direct your tools, systems, and people to the specific information they seek. This is achieved by establishing and consistently applying a common vocabulary across all of your systems. Within the semantic layer context, we leverage taxonomies (hierarchical lists of values) and ontologies (formal maps of concepts and their relationships) to provide this essential direction. Taxonomies may be used in cases where we are looking to categorize stores as alike–Payless, DSW, and Foot Locker may be interchangeable as shoe stores–whereas ontologies, thanks to their multi-relational nature, can help tell us stores that make sense to visit for a certain occasion–Staples for school supplies followed by Gap for back-to-school clothes.
Developing an effective semantic layer directory demands two key considerations:
- Achieving a Consensus on Terminology: Imagine a mall directory where “Footwear” and “Shoes” are used in different sections, or where “Electronics” and “Gadgets” demand their own spaces. This negates the purpose of categorization and causes confusion. A semantic layer requires careful negotiation with stakeholders to agree on common concepts. Investing the time to navigate organizational differences and build consensus on metadata and taxonomy terms before implementation significantly mitigates technical challenges down the line.
- Designing an Extensible Model: For a semantic layer to thrive, its underlying data model must be capable of growing over time. As new data providers (“stores”) join your mall and new use cases emerge, the model must seamlessly integrate without ‘breaking’ previous work. Employing ontology design best practices and engaging with seasoned professionals ensures that your semantic layer is an accurate reflection of your organization’s reality and can evolve flexibly with both new information and demands.
At Enterprise Knowledge, we advocate for initiating this phase with a small group of pilot use cases. These pilots typically focus on building out scoped taxonomies or ontologies tied to high-value, priority use cases and serve as a proving ground for onboarding initial data providers. Starting small allows for agile iteration, refinement, and stakeholder alignment before scaling.
3. Store Tenant Recruitment: Driving Adoption & Buy-In
Once the mall’s structure is complete, the focus shifts to a dual objective: attracting sought-after stores (data providers) to occupy the spaces and convincing customers (business users) to come and shop. A successful mall developer must persuasively demonstrate the benefits to retailers, such as high foot traffic, convenience, and access to a wider audience, to secure their commitment. A clear articulation of value is essential to get retailers on board.
When deploying your semantic layer, robust stakeholder buy-in is key. Strategically position your semantic layer initiative as an effort to significantly enhance your knowledge-connectedness and enable decision-making across the organization. Summarizing this information in a cohesive Semantic Layer Strategy is key to quickly convincing providers and customers.
An effective Semantic Layer Strategy should focus on:
- Establishing a Clear Product Vision: To attract both data providers and consumers, the strategy must have a well-defined product vision. This involves articulating what the semantic layer will become, who it will serve, and what core problems it will solve. This strategic clarity ensures that all stakeholders understand the overarching purpose and direction, fostering alignment and shared purpose.
- Defining Measurable Outcomes: To truly gain adoption, your strategy should demonstrably link to tangible business outcomes. It is paramount to build compelling reasons for stakeholders to both contribute information and consume insights from the semantic layer. This involves identifying and communicating the specific, high-impact results (e.g., increased efficiency, reduced risk, enhanced insights) that the semantic layer will deliver.
4. Grand Opening: Populating Data & Unveiling Use Cases
With the foundation built, the directory mapped, and the tenants recruited, it’s finally time for the grand unveiling of your Information Shopping Mall. This phase involves connecting applications to your semantic layer and populating it with data.
A successful grand opening requires:
- Robust Data Pipelines: Just like a mall needs efficient distributors to stock its stores, your semantic layer needs APIs and data transformation pipelines. These are critical conduits that connect various source applications (like CRMs, Content Management Systems, and traditional databases) to your semantic layer, ensuring a continuous flow of high-quality data.
- Secure Entitlement Structures: Paramount to any successful mall is ensuring security of its goods. For your semantic layer, this translates to establishing secure entitlement structures. This involves defining who has access to what information and ensuring sensitive information remains protected while still enabling necessary access for relevant business users.
- Coordinated Capability Development: A seamless launch is the result of close coordination between technology teams, product owners, and stakeholders. This collaboration is vital for building the necessary technical capabilities, shaping an intuitive user experience, and managing expectations across the organization as new semantic-power use cases arise.
Conclusion
Building an Information Shopping Mall – your Semantic Layer – transforms disjointed data into an invaluable, accessible asset. This empowers your business with clarity, efficiency, and insight.
At Enterprise Knowledge, we specialize in guiding organizations through every phase of this complex journey, turning the vision of truly connected knowledge into a tangible reality. For more information, reach out to us at info@enterprise-knowledge.com.