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As part of their efforts to improve overall data quality, data usage, and coordination, the Chief Data Officer of a federal agency was seeking to analyze current data management practices and identify ways to improve the Office’s existing processes. One of the most pressing challenges identified was that data scientists and economists were finding it difficult to make  efficient use of siloed data sources in order to  easily access, interpret, and track data and its history. Each researcher had anecdotal knowledge of what data resources were available, and they were often recreating similar data manipulations and research that other analysts had done previously in their own departments. The agency needed a more efficient and centralized way to capture key contextual information to drive the use, discovery, and reuse of data. The solution had to enhance and modernize their metadata management practices through improved access and visibility across agency data resources, while maintaining the appropriate security measures. Continue reading