Which statement best describes the purpose of a data catalog?

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At its core, a data catalog serves as a centralized inventory of data assets with rich metadata that explains what each asset is, where it comes from, how it’s related to other data, and how it’s used. This makes data discoverable and understandable for people across the organization. It typically includes descriptions of the data’s meaning, lineage showing the data’s origin and transformations, usage information (who uses it and how often), data owners, quality notes, and access rules. With searchable metadata and tagging, users can quickly find the right dataset and grasp its context, limitations, and trust level. This supports governance and responsible data use by making data assets more transparent and accessible.

The other options don’t fit because they describe activities outside the catalog’s purpose: hardware procurement is about infrastructure management, storing passwords is a security function, and defining retention periods relates to data lifecycle management rather than cataloging assets for discovery and understanding.