Providing context, meaning and usability for the growing trove of data that companies collect requires metadata management. Metadata helps users, systems and applications find the data they need and understand its relevance to business processes, even when it is stored in disparate physical locations, applications or formats.
The best metadata management tools combine multiple components to perform a variety of functions including:
A central repository that collects, organizes and stores collected metadata. This component often includes an engine that scans connected data sources and extracts metadata from them, then ingests it into the repository. The tool can also support a variety of workflows to manage the process of collecting, organizing and managing metadata.
An enterprise information catalog that displays a searchable, browsable and customizable view of metadata that is linked to the digital assets it describes. This component typically supports a wide range of user personas and use cases, including discovery, auto-discovery, data governance and data lineage.
A metadata management system can also capture and analyze the structure, semantics and behavior of an organization’s existing data to identify areas for improvement, such as duplicate records or inconsistencies in terminology. It can also help organizations meet regulatory compliance requirements.
FIREDATA 