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add Home entry point with introduction journey, CMEM-8370
New users had no starting point: the homepage was a tile grid only, the tiles did not follow the menu bar order, and Getting Started described the product without introducing it. - add a Home tab with house icon as first menu entry and first tile - reorder the homepage tiles to match the menu bar, point Release Notes to 26.2 and drop the Getting Started tile - continue the homepage with "What is eccenca Corporate Memory?", including the 3-minute video, and show its table of contents - add the introduction pages What is a knowledge graph?, Semantic Web basics, At a glance, Get access and See it in the product, with diagrams and screenshots - hide the empty table of contents on the Develop overview Verified against CMEM v26.2.2 (Explore) for the Semantic Web basics and Shape views screenshots.
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‎docs/.pages‎

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nav:
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- Home:
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- index.md
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- introduction
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- Build: build
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- Explore: explore-and-author
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- Consume: consume
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- Develop: develop
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- Release Notes: release-notes
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- Tutorials: tutorials
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‎docs/develop/index.md‎

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# Develop
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‎docs/index.md‎

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title: "Welcome to the eccenca Corporate Memory documentation"
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icon: material/home
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# Welcome to the eccenca Corporate Memory documentation
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<div class="grid cards" markdown>
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- :material-calendar: [Release Notes](release-notes/2024/corporate-memory-24-3/index.md)
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- :material-home: [Home](#what-is-eccenca-corporate-memory)
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Documentation of changes and enhancements for each version.
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- :material-list-status: [Tutorials](tutorials/index.md)
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---
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Learn by example and step-by-step guidelines to achieve a concrete goal fast.
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- :material-arrow-right-thick: [Getting Started](getting-started/index.md)
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---
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This page describes how to work with Corporate Memory and shortly outlines all functionalities of the user interface.
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New to eccenca Corporate Memory? Start here: what the product is for, how it is structured, and how to get access.
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- :material-star: [Build](build/index.md)
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Extend Corporate Memory with custom plugins and packages, and access it programmatically through the Python, Java and REST APIs.
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- :material-calendar: [Release Notes](release-notes/2026/corporate-memory-26-2/index.md)
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---
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Documentation of changes and enhancements for each version.
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- :material-list-status: [Tutorials](tutorials/index.md)
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---
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Learn by example and step-by-step guidelines to achieve a concrete goal fast.
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</div>
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## What is eccenca Corporate Memory?
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Corporate Memory connects data that lives in separate systems into one meaningful whole, a knowledge graph.
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It keeps that whole usable as the systems and the business around it change.
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Prefer to watch?
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The video [eccenca Corporate Memory in 3 minutes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0zpH9oLMM){target=_blank} shows what Corporate Memory is for, without a product demo.
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[![Video eccenca Corporate Memory in 3 minutes on YouTube: a knowledge graph answering which products are affected if Kessler GmbH fails](video-corporate-memory-in-3-minutes.jpg){ class="bordered off-glb" width="60%" }](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0zpH9oLMM){target=_blank}
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Reading time: 4 minutes.
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No prior knowledge is required.
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The following sections explain what the product is for, not how to use it.
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### A familiar problem
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A supplier has just gone out of business.
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Someone in purchasing needs to know which products are affected.
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The answer exists.
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But the product is called `P-10045` in the ERP system, `PRD_10045_A` in the PLM system and `45100-XX` in the supplier portal.
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Each system is right on its own terms, and none of them knows about the others.
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So the answer is put together by hand, takes days, and is out of date by the time anyone acts on it.
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Most organizations do not have a data shortage.
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They have a connection problem.
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### What eccenca Corporate Memory does
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![Left: three systems with three names for the same product. Right: the same product, connected by named relationships.](three-systems-one-product.png){ class="bordered" }
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Corporate Memory gives the context of the data a place to live.
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It reads data from existing systems and expresses it as a knowledge graph: things, and the named relationships between them.
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This product is made at this plant.
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This plant is supplied by this company.
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Each statement is written down explicitly, in a form both people and software can follow.
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The three identifiers do not disappear.
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They become properties of one product, so any fact can be traced back to the system it came from, and written back to it where that makes sense.
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The question from purchasing now has a place to be asked, and an answer that is the same for everyone who asks it.
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![Suppliers, the products they supply and the countries they are in, shown in Graph Insights. Every connection carries a name.](graph-insights-suppliers-products-countries.png){ class="bordered" width="60%" }
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Around the graph, the platform provides what is needed to keep it alive: building it from real sources, exploring and correcting it, checking that it still meets expectations, and serving it to the people and applications that need answers.
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- [What is a knowledge graph?](introduction/what-is-a-knowledge-graph/index.md) explains the idea in more depth.
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- [eccenca Corporate Memory at a glance](introduction/corporate-memory-at-a-glance/index.md) shows how the parts of the product fit together.
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### Terms used in this documentation
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These terms are not needed for this introduction.
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They become useful once reading continues into the other sections.
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| Term | In one line |
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| --- | --- |
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| Mapping | How source columns become things and relationships in the graph. |
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| Linking | Deciding when two records from different systems mean the same thing. |
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| Shapes (SHACL) | Writing down what must be true about the data, and checking it. |
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| Vocabulary | The agreed names for the kinds of things and relationships in use. |
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| Workflow | Running all of it again whenever the sources change. |
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| Marketplace | Ready-made packages to install and adapt. |
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| cmemc | Doing the same from the command line, for automation and CI/CD. |
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### What it is and what it is not
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| Corporate Memory is … | … and it is not |
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| --- | --- |
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| a layer that connects with existing systems | a replacement for them; the ERP system stays the ERP system |
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| built to represent meaning and relationships | a data warehouse or a BI tool for aggregating numbers |
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| configured for business users by people who know the data and the domain | a finished application for end users |
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| support for modeling decisions | a way to avoid them |
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It does not wire the systems to each other either.
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Corporate Memory connects with them, brings their data together in one graph, and leaves them running as they are.
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The last row matters most.
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Deciding what the data means is modeling work.
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Corporate Memory supports that work, it does not do it.
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### Is it the right tool?
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Corporate Memory is likely to add value when most of these questions are answered with yes:
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- Do the questions cross system boundaries?
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- Is the same real-world thing represented differently in different places?
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- Do relationships matter as much as the values themselves?
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- Is the structure of the data expected to keep changing?
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It is probably not the right tool for a single well-structured source with a stable schema, or for a question that is essentially "sum this column by month".
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It is also not the right tool when nobody in the organization is available to decide what the data means.
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That last one is the most common reason such projects stall, and no software solves it.
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### Who works with it
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<div class="grid cards" markdown>
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- __Linked Data Experts and data engineers__
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---
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Do most of the building: connect sources, model, and keep the graph current.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Build a knowledge graph](build/index.md)
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- __Business users__
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---
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Work with what has been configured for them, usually without seeing the model behind it.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Explore and manage knowledge](explore-and-author/index.md)
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- __Developers__
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---
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Integrate Corporate Memory with other applications and extend it.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Extend Corporate Memory](develop/index.md)
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- __Administrators__
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---
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Install, operate and upgrade it.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Deploy and operate](deploy-and-configure/index.md)
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</div>
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Choosing one of these roles is not required at this point.
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### Next
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- [What is a knowledge graph?](introduction/what-is-a-knowledge-graph/index.md): the concept, 5 minutes, on the main path
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- [Semantic Web basics](introduction/semantic-web-basics/index.md): optional, the terminology, about 35 minutes
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- [eccenca Corporate Memory at a glance](introduction/corporate-memory-at-a-glance/index.md): the parts of the product and how they relate

‎docs/introduction/.pages‎

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- "What is a knowledge graph?": what-is-a-knowledge-graph
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- Get access: get-access
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title: "Introduction: eccenca Corporate Memory at a glance"
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# eccenca Corporate Memory at a glance
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[What is a knowledge graph?](../what-is-a-knowledge-graph/index.md) explains the knowledge graph in the middle of the following picture.
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The five areas around it are where the work with that graph happens.
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Each area is a part of eccenca Corporate Memory, and each has its own section in this documentation.
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The following descriptions say what each one is for, in two or three sentences, and nothing about how to use it.
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![Overview of Corporate Memory: the knowledge graph in the center, connected to Build, Explore and Consume, with Govern and Distribute across all three](corporate-memory-overview.png){ width="80%" }
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## Build
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Build is where data becomes a knowledge graph.
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A source is connected: a file, a database, an API.
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Its columns are then defined as things and relationships, and the Mapping Creator proposes most of that.
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Workflows put the steps in order, so the graph can be rebuilt whenever the sources change.
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Mostly used by Linked Data Experts and data engineers.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Go to Build](../../build/index.md)
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## Explore
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Explore is where people work with the graph.
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Searching finds a thing, its connections become visible, and what is wrong is corrected in place, without a query language.
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Views can be tailored to a task, so a colleague sees their own fields rather than the model behind them.
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Used by business users and Linked Data Experts.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Go to Explore](../../explore-and-author/index.md)
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## Consume
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Consume is where other systems take over.
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Dashboards, applications, automated processes and AI agents read the same graph through standard interfaces such as SPARQL, SQL and REST.
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Everyone then works from the same answer instead of a copy of their own.
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Used by developers, analysts and Linked Data Experts.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Go to Consume](../../consume/index.md)
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## Govern
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Govern is what keeps the whole thing dependable.
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Access rules decide who sees and changes what, and metrics and logs show whether the system is healthy.
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Everything that can be done by hand can also be done from the command line or through an API.
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That is what makes automation and continuous delivery possible.
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Used by administrators and operations teams.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Go to Automate](../../automate/index.md) · [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Go to Deploy and Configure](../../deploy-and-configure/index.md)
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## Distribute
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Distribute is how work gets reused.
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The Marketplace holds ready-made content that can be added to an instance: vocabularies, taxonomies, data graphs, Build projects and query catalogs.
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Complete demo and solution setups are included.
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Everything arrives as a versioned package, and Corporate Memory puts its contents where they belong.
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Solutions built in house can be packaged and shared the same way.
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Used by Linked Data Experts and developers.
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[:octicons-arrow-right-24: Go to Distribution](../../distribution/index.md)
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## What else it can do
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The five areas above are where most work happens.
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The following capabilities exist alongside them, and are named here so that they are known to exist rather than explained.
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| Capability | In one line | Where |
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| --- | --- | --- |
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| Query and SPARQL | The query language for graphs, and the precise way to ask the data a question nobody planned for. | [Queries](../../explore-and-author/query-module/index.md) |
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| Reasoning | Derives the facts that follow from the data and the rules, without anyone stating them. | [Reason](../../build/reference/customtask/cmem_plugin_reason-plugin_reason-ReasonPlugin.md) |
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| Shapes (SHACL) | Record what must be true about the data, and check whether it is. | [Building a customized user interface](../../explore-and-author/graph-exploration/building-a-customized-user-interface/index.md) |
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| Linking rules | Decide when two records from different systems mean the same real-world thing. | [Link Rules](../../explore-and-author/link-rules/index.md) |
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| Link learning | Proposes those rules from examples, instead of requiring them to be written by hand. | [Active Learning](../../build/active-learning/index.md) |
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| Python plugins | Add functions that the standard product does not provide. | [Python Plugins](../../develop/python-plugins/index.md) |
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| Deployment | The technical operating layer, so Corporate Memory runs in different environments. | [Deploy and Configure](../../deploy-and-configure/index.md) |
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## Next
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- [Get access](../get-access/index.md): a sandbox or an existing instance
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- Basic, the hands-on path to a first knowledge graph in about four hours, is in preparation.
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Until then, the [Tutorials](../../tutorials/index.md) cover the first steps.
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<!-- TODO: replace the Basic entry above with a link once the Basic learning path exists. -->
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