The simplest definition of metadata is “data in context”; the who, what, why, where, and how of data. DATAVERSITY brought this interesting information to our attention in their article, “Metadata is the Key to Data Management Success.”
Now that more business users understand the role of good data in business success, metadata is commonplace. Without metadata, an organization is at risk for making decisions based on the wrong data. What seem like minor mistakes are often caused by poorly managed metadata and can result in catastrophic outcomes.
Higher quality of data and metadata will enhance the business value in the end. Core goals of metadata strategy should be the development of an enterprise-wide understanding of the intrinsic value of metadata throughout the organization, recognition of the value of metadata to improving data quality, how the organization will use the metadata and what technologies will support their metadata activities.
Melody K. Smith
Sponsored by Access Innovations, the world leader in taxonomies, metadata, and semantic enrichment to make your content findable.
