Everyone has a definition.
Nobody has the same one.
Definitions sit in documents, SharePoint sites and people's heads. Every team keeps its own version, and the day you publish a glossary, it starts going out of date.
“Different terms mean the same thing, and the same term means different things.”
active customer
4 versions- Sales handbook · PDF“Ordered in the last 12 months.”
- Credit policy v3 · DOCX“Has an open account and no credit block.”
- KPI definitions · XLSX“Ordered in the last 24 months.”
- Data team wiki“Any customer with status A.”
We show you the definitions as the business actually uses them.
One term, from scattered versions to an entry its owner has signed off.
- 1Every version in one place
Shadow definitions and synonyms, found.
Ordered in the last 12 monthsSalesOrdered in the last 24 monthsBI · conflictsOpen account, no credit blockFinanceAny customer with status AData teamWhat you seeWhere each version lives, who uses it, and where they contradict each other.
- 2Ready to approve
One proposed definition, with its sources.
Proposed entry · Owner: Finance
Active customer
Invoiced at least once in the last 12 months, and not on credit hold.
Synonyms: live account, actieve klant, aktiver Kunde
Proposed fixKeep one definition, map the synonyms to it, and retire the outdated versions.
Forward to Accept - 3Signed off without a meeting
Agreed in Teams or by email.
New definition to approve: Active customer✓ Approved in Teams by the finance controller✓ Confirmed by email by the sales leadThe resultOne agreed definition, linked to its owner. Everyone gets the same answer.
What you seeToday
- Every team keeps its own version.
- Agreeing a term takes long meetings.
- Out of date the day it's published.
With Metagem
- Every shadow definition found.
- Agreed in Teams or by email.
- Kept up to date automatically.