Supportdaten

Supportdaten, literally “support data,” refer to data collected or produced to provide evidence, context, or justification for analyses, decisions, or actions. They are intended to illuminate primary data or results by documenting provenance, assumptions, methods, and the environment in which the data were generated. In many disciplines, supportdaten are often essential for reproducibility, auditability, and accountability.

Typical forms include logs, event records, metadata, supplementary measurements, historical or backup copies, surveys, questionnaires, and related documentation such as data dictionaries and codebooks. In business and IT contexts, supportdaten are used alongside transactional data, such as system logs and ticket histories, to explain performance issues, confirm root causes, or monitor service levels. They can also comprise synthetic or anonymized data intended to protect privacy while preserving analytical value.

Collection and management involve data governance practices: data lineage, quality control, versioning, and access control. Privacy and compliance are central concerns, with measures such as minimization, anonymization, and secure storage. Metadata standards and data catalogs improve discoverability and interoperability.

Applications include decision support, troubleshooting, regulatory reporting, model training and validation, and post hoc analyses. Challenges include ensuring sufficiency and relevance, maintaining up-to-date documentation, handling heterogeneous sources, and protecting sensitive information. When well managed, supportdaten enhance transparency and trust in data-driven processes.