The Information Catalog Manager stores metadata about a variety of information sources. This metadata can include the type of information, a description of the information, what it contains, who owns it and updates it, where it came from, and where and how to get to it.

After you find the information you need, you can start spreadsheet programs, word processors, graphic tools, or other informational applications from within the Information Catalog Manager. The Information Catalog Manager remains in the background while you work with the retrieved information in the application where the source information originates. With the Information Catalog Manager for the Web component, you can search your company's information catalogs from any Web browser.