Managing the Metadata Lifecycle

(Continuation of the Metadata 2.0 Series) 

The MetaShare metadata collaboration platform provides a framework for controlling and managing the content of the published documents.  The platform is designed with an open philosophy.  Mistakes are easily corrected because it provides a process by which verification of recent additions and changes to documents is easy and manageable.  Every page includes a “Recent Changes” page that shows all versions of a document across time and allows for the comparison of the content of any two documents.  If edits to a document are deemed incorrect, they can be reversed by restoring the document to the previous version.

User generated content must be actively managed. If it is not, the documents will become disorganized and end up containing incorrect information.  Users can subscribe to alerts that are generated when a document changes. Someone in the organization can be assigned as the metadata steward and can monitor changes to the documents. If it becomes necessary, a standing meeting can be called where stakeholders get together to talk about the changes to the documents and double check the accuracy of the information added. Wikipedia follows a very similar lifecycle through the use of moderators or editors. Utilization of the same technique will keep the metadata documents up to date and correct.

In the next article we’ll talk about extracting SSIS metadata.

Using the MetaShare Platform to Update Metadata

(Continuation of Metadata 2.0 Series) 

Updating the Metadata Attributes

The pages created by MetaShare are separated into two major sections.  The top of the page is created and maintained by MetaShare.  The bottom is reserved for user-generated content.  If the extended properties metadata requires a change, there is a companion tool web application that allows for easy updating of the Kimball spreadsheet metadata attributes after the database is deployed and in production. It allows you to choose a database on a server and navigate to the metadata attributes for the tables and columns and update them accordingly.

User Generated Content

The bottom of every page that is generated by MetaShare is reserved for user content. This is where collaboration begins to come into play.  Users are encouraged to add information they know about an item or correct information they think is incorrect about that item.  Users should feel empowered to make changes to the pages for two reasons.  First of all, the collaboration platform retains document history.  Any documents changed by a user are saved before editing begins.  Comparisons between versions of a document become easy allowing for active management and moderating of changes by a metadata steward.

 In the next article, I’ll discuss the management process around metadata.