Intraversed myth busting:
IT should manage your business term glossary

ESTIMATED READING TIME: 2 MINUTES

Why people believe the myth

Business term glossaries are often seen as a tool that exists to support data management, because new software or reporting projects tends to be the instigating event to establish new data management tools and begin a glossary build. And all of that is IT activity. While business staff are often approached to assist with glossary population and definition writing, the undertaking rests in the hands of IT, as they're the only staff who have identified their need for business definitions, mainly for existing data.

Further, data management software often comes with a glossary component. It's a logical step to then assume that IT should be managing the glossary.

But you'd be wrong.

The Problem with the Myth

The primary purpose of a business term glossary isn't to support your organisation's data management activity – though a properly written and maintained glossary can be hugely helpful in getting data management right.

In fact, the primary purpose of a business term glossary is to support clear communication across all areas of the organisation, which happens when you align the language so that business terms mean the same thing whenever they're used.

This, of course, assists IT in understanding report and dashboard requests etc. But it also assists business staff in their communication with each other; assists senior staff in their communication to their teams and colleagues; enables understanding of the information and reports being used; increases reporting reliability; and more.

The business glossary terms are those that describe business-side processes, artefacts, metrics, items etc. They are terms that are used by, and relate directly to the work of, business staff. These definitions need to be written by business staff. It only makes sense that such a glossary should be managed by business staff, with business staff accountability over the terms and issues arising with those terms. It's the only way to ensure the accuracy, currency & clarity that IT staff need from their use of the glossary.

What We Suggest Instead of Following This Myth

Develop a glossary governance committee who will become the senior accountable parties for the glossary content. They should be primarily, if not entirely, business side staff. This team will be responsible for determining the prioritisation of terms to be defined, of convening appropriate groups to co-author a definition, and managing final approvals.

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Our award-winning Intralign Ecosystem methodology enables cultural shift towards business-managed encyclopaedias of organisational IP through education, software, business glossary writing expertise, and expert mentoring & support. Learn more here.

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