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What Is Meta Data

Metadata is data about data that provides information about the content and structure of data warehouses to help users understand and access the data. There are three main types of metadata: operational metadata about data sources, extraction and transformation metadata about extracting and transforming data, and end-user metadata that enables users to navigate and search the data warehouse.

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Äksʜi† ᴋᴜᴍᴀʀ
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30 views

What Is Meta Data

Metadata is data about data that provides information about the content and structure of data warehouses to help users understand and access the data. There are three main types of metadata: operational metadata about data sources, extraction and transformation metadata about extracting and transforming data, and end-user metadata that enables users to navigate and search the data warehouse.

Uploaded by

Äksʜi† ᴋᴜᴍᴀʀ
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is Meta Data?

Metadata is data about the data or documentation about the information which is required by the users. In data
warehousing, metadata is one of the essential aspects.

Metadata includes the following:

1. The location and descriptions of warehouse systems and components.


2. Names, definitions, structures, and content of data-warehouse and end-users views.
3. Identification of authoritative data sources.
4. Integration and transformation rules used to populate data.
5. Integration and transformation rules used to deliver information to end-user analytical tools.
6. Subscription information for information delivery to analysis subscribers.
7. Metrics used to analyze warehouses usage and performance.
8. Security authorizations, access control list, etc.

Metadata is used for building, maintaining, managing, and using the data warehouses. Metadata allow users access
to help understand the content and find data.

Several examples of metadata are:

1. A library catalog may be considered metadata. The directory metadata consists of several predefined
components representing specific attributes of a resource, and each item can have one or more values.
These components could be the name of the author, the name of the document, the publisher's name, the
publication date, and the methods to which it belongs.
2. The table of content and the index in a book may be treated metadata for the book.
3. Suppose we say that a data item about a person is 80. This must be defined by noting that it is the person's
weight and the unit is kilograms. Therefore, (weight, kilograms) is the metadata about the data is 80.
4. Another examples of metadata are data about the tables and figures in a report like this book. A table (which
is a record) has a name (e.g., table titles), and there are column names of the tables that may be treated
metadata. The figures also have titles or names.

Why is metadata necessary in a data warehouses?

o First, it acts as the glue that links all parts of the data warehouses.
o Next, it provides information about the contents and structures to the developers.
o Finally, it opens the doors to the end-users and makes the contents recognizable in their terms.

Metadata is Like a Nerve Center. Various processes during the building and administering of the data warehouse
generate parts of the data warehouse metadata. Another uses parts of metadata generated by one process. In the
data warehouse, metadata assumes a key position and enables communication among various methods. It acts as a
nerve centre in the data warehouse.

Types of Metadata
Metadata in a data warehouse fall into three major parts:
o Operational Metadata
o Extraction and Transformation Metadata
o End-User Metadata

Operational Metadata

As we know, data for the data warehouse comes from various operational systems of the enterprise. These source
systems include different data structures. The data elements selected for the data warehouse have various fields
lengths and data types.

In selecting information from the source systems for the data warehouses, we divide records, combine factor of
documents from different source files, and deal with multiple coding schemes and field lengths. When we deliver
information to the end-users, we must be able to tie that back to the source data sets. Operational metadata contains
all of this information about the operational data sources.

Extraction and Transformation Metadata

Extraction and transformation metadata include data about the removal of data from the source systems, namely, the
extraction frequencies, extraction methods, and business rules for the data extraction. Also, this category of metadata
contains information about all the data transformation that takes place in the data staging area.

End-User Metadata

The end-user metadata is the navigational map of the data warehouses. It enables the end-users to find data from
the data warehouses. The end-user metadata allows the end-users to use their business terminology and look for the
information in those ways in which they usually think of the business.

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