Metadata Management

Metadata is defined as “data about data”. This layer of information is created to help people use raw data as information.


Metadata management is the set of tools and processes that maintains a unified reference to the details on all data, information and knowledge existing within an organization. 


Metadata management is an important component of any Master Data Management (MDM) and Enterprise Data Warehousing (EDW) initiative. It is often overlooked and assumed to be taken care of automatically. 


Metadata management helps to lower the cost of ownership by documenting the entire end-to-end process for master data at the metadata level. Metadata can be documented everywhere from the source systems, MDM hub, data quality tools, data and business modelling tools, and integration tools.


There are 5 categories of Metadata:

1. Business Metadata
2. Navigational Metadata
3. Structural Metadata
4. Analytic Metadata
5. Operational Metadata

There are 3 approaches to manage metadata: 

1. Centralized Approach
2. Distributed Approach
3. Federated (Hybrid) Approach