1
Capture
Add one or more terms with definitions, context, owners, sources, classifications, and lifecycle dates.
Governed terminology
Build a clear, consistent business glossary
Document business terms, definitions, ownership, calculations, classifications, sources, and approval status in one structured workspace. Assess completeness and export an approval-ready table.
No external API is used. Results depend on the information you provide and should be reviewed by accountable business stakeholders.
How it works
Move from draft terminology to an actionable, reviewable glossary in three steps.
2
Assess
Run deterministic validation and completeness scoring to identify ownership, evidence, and governance gaps.
3
Review and export
Filter the approval-ready table, prioritise remediation actions, print the result, or export CSV and JSON locally.
Business glossary workspace
Up to 50 terms per assessment. Required fields are marked with *.
Methodology, limitations, and responsible use
The builder supports structured preparation and review. It does not replace domain expertise, governance approval, legal advice, or technical metadata management.
Completeness methodology
Each populated field contributes a fixed weight. Core definitions and ownership receive the highest weighting. The calculation is transparent, deterministic, and repeatable for identical inputs.
Important limitations
The score does not test whether a definition is correct, unique across the enterprise, compliant with regulation, aligned with technical metadata, or formally approved by an authorised body.
Recommended operating model
Use the output as a review pack. Route terms to owners and stewards, reconcile conflicts, record decisions, connect technical metadata, and schedule recurring review based on business criticality.
Privacy note: CSV import and CSV/JSON export run locally in the browser. Form submissions are processed by the website server to support non-JavaScript operation. No external API is called by this page. Data is not intentionally stored unless the existing site separately implements secure server-side storage or logging.
Frequently asked questions
Practical guidance for designing and maintaining a useful business glossary.
What is a business glossary?
A business glossary is a governed collection of agreed terms, definitions, owners, usage rules, relationships, sources, and lifecycle information used across an organisation.
How is a business glossary different from a data dictionary?
A business glossary focuses on business meaning and accountability. A data dictionary focuses more narrowly on technical fields, structures, data types, constraints, and system-level metadata. Mature programmes connect both.
Which fields are essential before a term can be approved?
At minimum, organisations usually require a preferred term, authoritative definition, business domain, accountable owner, steward, status, source context, effective date, and review date. Local policy may require more.
How does the completeness score work?
The tool adds fixed weights for populated fields. Definitions and ownership receive higher weights. The overall score is the rounded arithmetic mean of all term scores.
Does a high score mean the definition is correct?
No. A high score indicates documentation completeness only. Domain experts and authorised stakeholders must still validate meaning, uniqueness, applicability, and approval.
How should synonyms and abbreviations be managed?
Record legitimate alternatives to improve findability, but designate one preferred term. Avoid treating two materially different concepts as synonyms merely because teams use them interchangeably.
What should a calculation rule contain?
Document the formula, inputs, aggregation level, filters, inclusions, exclusions, time window, currency or units, treatment of missing values, and rounding convention. State “not applicable” when the term is not calculated.
How often should glossary terms be reviewed?
Review frequency should reflect business criticality, regulatory exposure, process change, system change, and usage. Critical metrics may need quarterly review; stable descriptive terms may be reviewed annually.
Can I import existing terms from CSV?
Yes. Use the local CSV importer. The first row should contain matching field names such as preferred_term, business_definition, domain, owner, status, effective_date, and review_date.
How are duplicate terms detected?
Exact normalised duplicates are blocked during server validation. The browser also flags exact and near-duplicate preferred terms using normalised text and edit-distance similarity.
Is data sent to an external service?
No external API is used. Browser import and export are local. Standard form submission is processed by the hosting server so the tool also works without JavaScript.
What should happen after export?
Send the glossary table through the organisation’s review workflow, resolve conflicts, secure approvals, connect terms to technical metadata and controls, publish in the authorised repository, and monitor scheduled reviews.