The Value of Business Metadata Management

Metadata management is important because of the time required to find a piece of information. This chapter provides an overview of the value of metadata in general and business metadata in particular. For instance, one of the values of business metadata is that it helps businesspeople find documents such as policy and procedure manuals. It is shown that business metadata is very valuable for assisting the enterprise in the understanding of what data means and its practical ramifications, and the value of this metadata is emphasized when it is missing. There are many reasons metadata plays such an important role in a corporation's information management. In the world where lots of complex systems are in place and where people come and go frequently, metadata is absolutely essential. It adds clarity and meaning to data; it helps businesspeople find what they are looking for in the way of information assets; and it helps prevent the organization from reinventing reports that have already been written.