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1 | 1 | --- |
| 2 | +title: "Welcome to the eccenca Corporate Memory documentation" |
| 3 | +icon: material/home |
2 | 4 | comments: false |
3 | | -hide: |
4 | | - - toc |
5 | | - - navigation |
6 | 5 | --- |
7 | 6 |
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8 | 7 | # Welcome to the eccenca Corporate Memory documentation |
9 | 8 |
|
10 | 9 | <div class="grid cards" markdown> |
11 | 10 |
|
12 | | -- :material-calendar: [Release Notes](release-notes/2024/corporate-memory-24-3/index.md) |
| 11 | +- :material-home: [Home](#what-is-eccenca-corporate-memory) |
13 | 12 |
|
14 | 13 | --- |
15 | 14 |
|
16 | | - Documentation of changes and enhancements for each version. |
17 | | - |
18 | | -- :material-list-status: [Tutorials](tutorials/index.md) |
19 | | - |
20 | | - --- |
21 | | - |
22 | | - Learn by example and step-by-step guidelines to achieve a concrete goal fast. |
23 | | - |
24 | | -- :material-arrow-right-thick: [Getting Started](getting-started/index.md) |
25 | | - |
26 | | - --- |
27 | | - |
28 | | - This page describes how to work with Corporate Memory and shortly outlines all functionalities of the user interface. |
| 15 | + New to eccenca Corporate Memory? Start here: what the product is for, how it is structured, and how to get access. |
29 | 16 |
|
30 | 17 | - :material-star: [Build](build/index.md) |
31 | 18 |
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@@ -69,4 +56,156 @@ hide: |
69 | 56 |
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70 | 57 | Extend Corporate Memory with custom plugins and packages, and access it programmatically through the Python, Java and REST APIs. |
71 | 58 |
|
| 59 | +- :material-calendar: [Release Notes](release-notes/2026/corporate-memory-26-2/index.md) |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | + --- |
| 62 | + |
| 63 | + Documentation of changes and enhancements for each version. |
| 64 | + |
| 65 | +- :material-list-status: [Tutorials](tutorials/index.md) |
| 66 | + |
| 67 | + --- |
| 68 | + |
| 69 | + Learn by example and step-by-step guidelines to achieve a concrete goal fast. |
| 70 | + |
72 | 71 | </div> |
| 72 | + |
| 73 | +## What is eccenca Corporate Memory? |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +Corporate Memory connects data that lives in separate systems into one meaningful whole, a knowledge graph. |
| 76 | +It keeps that whole usable as the systems and the business around it change. |
| 77 | + |
| 78 | +Prefer to watch? |
| 79 | +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. |
| 80 | + |
| 81 | +[{ class="bordered off-glb" width="60%" }](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb0zpH9oLMM){target=_blank} |
| 82 | + |
| 83 | +Reading time: 4 minutes. |
| 84 | +No prior knowledge is required. |
| 85 | +The following sections explain what the product is for, not how to use it. |
| 86 | + |
| 87 | +### A familiar problem |
| 88 | + |
| 89 | +A supplier has just gone out of business. |
| 90 | +Someone in purchasing needs to know which products are affected. |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +The answer exists. |
| 93 | +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. |
| 94 | +Each system is right on its own terms, and none of them knows about the others. |
| 95 | +So the answer is put together by hand, takes days, and is out of date by the time anyone acts on it. |
| 96 | + |
| 97 | +Most organizations do not have a data shortage. |
| 98 | +They have a connection problem. |
| 99 | + |
| 100 | +### What eccenca Corporate Memory does |
| 101 | + |
| 102 | +{ class="bordered" } |
| 103 | + |
| 104 | +Corporate Memory gives the context of the data a place to live. |
| 105 | + |
| 106 | +It reads data from existing systems and expresses it as a knowledge graph: things, and the named relationships between them. |
| 107 | +This product is made at this plant. |
| 108 | +This plant is supplied by this company. |
| 109 | +Each statement is written down explicitly, in a form both people and software can follow. |
| 110 | + |
| 111 | +The three identifiers do not disappear. |
| 112 | +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. |
| 113 | + |
| 114 | +The question from purchasing now has a place to be asked, and an answer that is the same for everyone who asks it. |
| 115 | + |
| 116 | +{ class="bordered" width="60%" } |
| 117 | + |
| 118 | +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. |
| 119 | + |
| 120 | +- [What is a knowledge graph?](introduction/what-is-a-knowledge-graph/index.md) explains the idea in more depth. |
| 121 | +- [eccenca Corporate Memory at a glance](introduction/corporate-memory-at-a-glance/index.md) shows how the parts of the product fit together. |
| 122 | + |
| 123 | +### Terms used in this documentation |
| 124 | + |
| 125 | +These terms are not needed for this introduction. |
| 126 | +They become useful once reading continues into the other sections. |
| 127 | + |
| 128 | +| Term | In one line | |
| 129 | +| --- | --- | |
| 130 | +| Mapping | How source columns become things and relationships in the graph. | |
| 131 | +| Linking | Deciding when two records from different systems mean the same thing. | |
| 132 | +| Shapes (SHACL) | Writing down what must be true about the data, and checking it. | |
| 133 | +| Vocabulary | The agreed names for the kinds of things and relationships in use. | |
| 134 | +| Workflow | Running all of it again whenever the sources change. | |
| 135 | +| Marketplace | Ready-made packages to install and adapt. | |
| 136 | +| cmemc | Doing the same from the command line, for automation and CI/CD. | |
| 137 | + |
| 138 | +### What it is and what it is not |
| 139 | + |
| 140 | +| Corporate Memory is … | … and it is not | |
| 141 | +| --- | --- | |
| 142 | +| a layer that connects with existing systems | a replacement for them; the ERP system stays the ERP system | |
| 143 | +| built to represent meaning and relationships | a data warehouse or a BI tool for aggregating numbers | |
| 144 | +| configured for business users by people who know the data and the domain | a finished application for end users | |
| 145 | +| support for modeling decisions | a way to avoid them | |
| 146 | + |
| 147 | +It does not wire the systems to each other either. |
| 148 | +Corporate Memory connects with them, brings their data together in one graph, and leaves them running as they are. |
| 149 | + |
| 150 | +The last row matters most. |
| 151 | +Deciding what the data means is modeling work. |
| 152 | +Corporate Memory supports that work, it does not do it. |
| 153 | + |
| 154 | +### Is it the right tool? |
| 155 | + |
| 156 | +Corporate Memory is likely to add value when most of these questions are answered with yes: |
| 157 | + |
| 158 | +- Do the questions cross system boundaries? |
| 159 | +- Is the same real-world thing represented differently in different places? |
| 160 | +- Do relationships matter as much as the values themselves? |
| 161 | +- Is the structure of the data expected to keep changing? |
| 162 | + |
| 163 | +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". |
| 164 | +It is also not the right tool when nobody in the organization is available to decide what the data means. |
| 165 | +That last one is the most common reason such projects stall, and no software solves it. |
| 166 | + |
| 167 | +### Who works with it |
| 168 | + |
| 169 | +<div class="grid cards" markdown> |
| 170 | + |
| 171 | +- __Linked Data Experts and data engineers__ |
| 172 | + |
| 173 | + --- |
| 174 | + |
| 175 | + Do most of the building: connect sources, model, and keep the graph current. |
| 176 | + |
| 177 | + [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Build a knowledge graph](build/index.md) |
| 178 | + |
| 179 | +- __Business users__ |
| 180 | + |
| 181 | + --- |
| 182 | + |
| 183 | + Work with what has been configured for them, usually without seeing the model behind it. |
| 184 | + |
| 185 | + [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Explore and manage knowledge](explore-and-author/index.md) |
| 186 | + |
| 187 | +- __Developers__ |
| 188 | + |
| 189 | + --- |
| 190 | + |
| 191 | + Integrate Corporate Memory with other applications and extend it. |
| 192 | + |
| 193 | + [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Extend Corporate Memory](develop/index.md) |
| 194 | + |
| 195 | +- __Administrators__ |
| 196 | + |
| 197 | + --- |
| 198 | + |
| 199 | + Install, operate and upgrade it. |
| 200 | + |
| 201 | + [:octicons-arrow-right-24: Deploy and operate](deploy-and-configure/index.md) |
| 202 | + |
| 203 | +</div> |
| 204 | + |
| 205 | +Choosing one of these roles is not required at this point. |
| 206 | + |
| 207 | +### Next |
| 208 | + |
| 209 | +- [What is a knowledge graph?](introduction/what-is-a-knowledge-graph/index.md): the concept, 5 minutes, on the main path |
| 210 | +- [Semantic Web basics](introduction/semantic-web-basics/index.md): optional, the terminology, about 35 minutes |
| 211 | +- [eccenca Corporate Memory at a glance](introduction/corporate-memory-at-a-glance/index.md): the parts of the product and how they relate |
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