Glossary

Metadata

Data describing other data: their meaning, origin, format, value domain, owner and usage.

Data describing other data: their meaning, origin, format, value domain, owner and usage. They are what makes a data item interpretable and auditable by someone other than its creator.

They are what makes a large repository usable. Without metadata, finding the right data depends on asking whoever has been around longest, and that dependency shows the day that person is not there.

Related terms

Data architecture

The definition of the data types and sources needed to support the business, expressed in a way stakeholders can understand.

Data lineage

The trail revealing where a data item came from, which process captured or transformed it, which rule modified it, which system received it and which indicator used it.

Data owner

The role accountable for the definition, quality, use, integrity, security, lineage and evolution of a critical entity.