Browse Definitions :
Definition

metadata management

Metadata management is the administration of data that describes other data. It involves establishing policies and processes that ensure information can be integrated, accessed, shared, linked, analyzed and maintained to best effect across the organization.

metadata is generated whenever data is created, acquired, added to, deleted from, or updated. For example, document metadata in Microsoft Word includes the file size, date of document creation, the name(s) of the author and most recent modifier, the dates of any changes and the total edit time. Further metadata can be added, including title, tags and comments.

The goal of metadata management is to make it easier for a person or program to locate a specific data asset. This requires designing a metadata repository, populating the repository and making it easy to use information in the repository.

Benefits of metadata management include:

  • Consistency of definitions of metadata so that terminology variations don't cause data retrieval problems.
  • Less redundancy of effort and greater consistency across multiple instances of data because data can be reused appropriately.
  • Maintenance of information across the organization that is not dependent on a particular employee's knowledge.
  • Greater efficiency, leading to faster product and project delivery.

When an organization is establishing policies to manage metadata, it is important for managers to gather together and agree upon a common data vocabulary and taxonomy. Intra-department variations should be addressed, and custom usages eliminated or replaced.

In some cases, the organization may choose to use a metadata repository that comes with a toolset already in use. For instance, ETL vendors offer metadata management applications for cataloging and managing ETL metadata, as well as metadata associated with source and target applications.

This was last updated in October 2017

Continue Reading About metadata management

Networking
  • packet filtering

    Packet filtering is the process of passing or blocking data packets at a network interface by a firewall based on source and ...

  • WAN (wide area network)

    A wide area network (WAN) is a geographically distributed private telecommunications network that interconnects multiple local ...

  • network operating system (NOS)

    A network operating system (NOS) is a computer operating system (OS) that's designed primarily to support workstations, PCs and, ...

Security
  • FIDO (Fast Identity Online)

    FIDO (Fast Identity Online) is a set of technology-agnostic security specifications for strong authentication.

  • Cloud Security Alliance (CSA)

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) is a nonprofit organization that promotes research into best practices for securing cloud ...

  • quantum supremacy

    Quantum supremacy is the experimental demonstration of a quantum computer's dominance and advantage over classical computers by ...

CIO
  • transaction

    In computing, a transaction is a set of related tasks treated as a single action.

  • lean management

    Lean management is an approach to managing an organization that supports the concept of continuous improvement, a long-term ...

  • device ID (device identification)

    A device ID (device identification) is an anonymous string of numbers and letters that uniquely identifies a mobile device such ...

HRSoftware
  • talent pool

    A talent pool is a database of job candidates who have the potential to meet an organization's immediate and long-term needs.

  • diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

    Diversity, equity and inclusion is a term used to describe policies and programs that promote the representation and ...

  • passive candidate

    A passive candidate (passive job candidate) is anyone in the workforce who is not actively looking for a job.

Customer Experience
  • product-qualified lead (PQL)

    A product-qualified lead (PQL) is an individual or business that experienced value from using a product as a result of a free ...

  • marketing-qualified lead (MQL)

    A marketing-qualified lead (MQL) is a website visitor whose engagement levels indicate they are likely to become a customer.

  • customer success

    Customer success is a strategy to ensure a company's products are meeting the needs of the customer.

Close