Data catalogs have existed for a long time, but still remain out of reach for a large number of organizations. This page presents their role, the limitations of existing solutions, and datannur’s proposed approach to make data governance more accessible.
A data catalog allows organizations to document, structure, and find their datasets. It centralizes essential metadata — content, owners, location, structure, update frequency, sensitivity level — and offers a clear entry point to an information asset that is often dispersed.
Data catalogs are not new. For over ten years, they have been improving data quality, compliance, protection, and reuse. Large companies invest hundreds of thousands of francs in them annually. With increasing regulatory requirements, open data, and AI-related uses, they are becoming an increasingly central tool for serious data governance.
Because market solutions are too expensive, too cumbersome, or too complex to deploy. High-end catalogs target large enterprises, open-source alternatives often require dedicated infrastructure, and general-purpose tools are insufficient for structuring true data governance.
In practice, many organizations continue to work with spreadsheets, scattered documents, or ad hoc solutions. The consultants and integrators who support them also lack a tool they can use quickly, transfer to the client, and maintain over time.
datannur was designed to remove the barriers that still prevent most organizations from adopting a true data catalog. It is an open-source, lightweight, and sovereign catalog, designed to function without heavy infrastructure and without dependence on a single vendor. The tool is free, simple to set up, and can be used independently or as part of a support service provided by a partner.
In practice, datannur automatically scans various sources — files, databases, folder structures — generates metadata, and builds a structured, interoperable catalog. The interface allows users to explore datasets, their variables, their dependencies, and their evolution over time. Metadata remains under the organization’s control, in reusable formats, with the possibility of integrating AI and choosing models according to confidentiality requirements.
datannur is aimed at organizations that want to better govern their data without deploying heavy infrastructure: administrations, SMEs, NGOs, universities, laboratories, or public institutions. It allows them to have a structured, usable, and sustainable catalog, while retaining control over their metadata.
The tool is also for professionals who support these organizations — governance consultants, GDPR experts, integrators, IT service providers. They can use it for an audit, a diagnosis, or support, and then transfer it to the client as a governance foundation that the client can continue to maintain.