What is Data Architecture?

Data architecture is "the blueprint of the data within your company." It "includes things like enterprisewide data models, the meta-data catalog, and notions of data ownership." Data infrastructure, on the other hand, covers the physical data structures and data transport mechanisms.

From Nirmal Baid's article "logical data architecture" at http://sunsite.uakom.sk/sunworldonline/swol-07-1998/swol-07-itarchitect.html

To understand the DA's role (from the vantage of a DBA), I found the 4th part of Craig Mullin's multi-part article helpful at http://www.dbazine.com/dba_4.shtml

I also recommend Rajan Chandras' article on Data Architecture entitled "Get the Complete Picture" at http://www.intelligententerprise.com/010130/feat3_1.shtml

Supporting information may be found at
ôWhat is the Role of a Data Architect?ö http://www.databaseanswers.com/role_of_data_architect.htm
and ôDatabase Job Titlesö http://dbajobs.com/database_job_titles.htm