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The data dictionary is an integral part of the data life cycle. As a management tool, the data dictionary is used to catalogue and index data sets. It is this process of documentation that facilitates the exhange of information between entities, thereby enhancing the usability of data.

Important as this may be, the creation of a dictionary can be needlessly time consuming. Data documentation methods inherent to current statistical software (IBM© SPSS©, SAS© & STATA©) is limited and typically reliant on the user's knowledge of program code. Further, tedious post-production efforts are almost always required to ready the dictionary for dissemination.

Dictionary 1.0 provides a viable solution to this problem. At its core, Dictionary 1.0 is a powerful metadata management tool and automated documentation generator for your IBM© SPSS©, SAS© & STATA© data sets. With an intuitive graphic user interface, flexible options for content and styling, and the ability to synchronize to your source data sets, generating data dictionaries has never been more efficient.

Organize Metadata
Dictionary offers a user-friendly approach to organizing metadata and structuring data dictionaries. Variables or “definitions”, can be grouped into folders and divided into logical sections and subsections in a familiar tree-like hierarchy. Imported metadata can easily be sorted, reordered, searched and annotated.

StyleBooks
StyleBooks are style templates that can be applied to your dictionary. StyleBooks can provide the base for your own customized creation with the Designer Module, or they can be a quick and easy solution to output elegant and professional looking data dictionaries.

DataLink Manager
The DataLink Manager allows users to manage metadata from as many datasets as required. Removing, updating and relinking datasets can be accomplished with ease. DataLink Manager will auto-detect when a linked dataset has been altered and will keep record of any changes, allowing for a seamless integration with your workflow.

Designer
The Designer Module offers a “style-by-type” editor, allowing users to quickly make selections and style them accordingly. Designer offers options similar to those found in a word-processor, allowing a great degree of control over the look and style of your data dictionaries.

MetaView Add-on
The MetaView add-on is a useful tool which enables users to quickly view and search the variables inside a selected dataset when file browsing with Windows Explorer.