With the huge amount of data that an enterprise creates and stores, they must have a proper metadata management strategy in place. The whole lifecycle of the data must be maintained so future insights will be accurate and correctly based on past learnings. This is why metadata is so essential. It is defined as the “data about data” because it helps illustrate the data’s context, purpose and value for an organization. Metadata allows companies to find certain information extremely quickly. It also helps BI teams conduct accurate reporting and analytics. In a nutshell, metadata helps data professionals completely understand the data they are viewing. It can also show an audit trail that may be useful for companies in the future. Metadata helps manage the history of data sets which accounts for any irregularities in the data over time.
In order to properly organize enterprise data, it is important to have a metadata management process in place. Consider automating the process so errors are avoided and time isn’t wasted by manually organizing the data. This allows companies to locate the correct metadata instantly and be able to utilize it accordingly. Automated metadata management also maintains consistency across the data set so valuable information isn’t lost, misplaced or somehow deleted.
