Business Metadata: Capturing Enterprise Knowledge

Business Metadata: Capturing Enterprise Knowledge

by W.H. Inmon, Bonnie O'Neil, Lowell Fryman
Released July 2010
Publisher(s): Morgan Kaufmann
ISBN: 9780080552200

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Book description

Business Metadata: Capturing Enterprise Knowledge is the first book that helps businesses capture corporate (human) knowledge and unstructured data, and offer solutions for codifying it for use in IT and management. Written by Bill Inmon, one of the fathers of the data warehouse and well-known author, the book is filled with war stories, examples, and cases from current projects. It includes a complete metadata acquisition methodology and project plan to guide readers every step of the way, and sample unstructured metadata for use in self-testing and developing skills.

This book is recommended for IT professionals, including those in consulting, working on systems that will deliver better knowledge management capability. This includes people in these positions: data architects, data analysts, SOA architects, metadata analysts, repository (metadata data warehouse) managers as well as vendors that have a metadata component as part of their systems or tools.

  • First book that helps businesses capture corporate (human) knowledge and unstructured data, and offer solutions for codifying it for use in IT and management
  • Written by Bill Inmon, one of the fathers of the data warehouse and well-known author, and filled with war stories, examples, and cases from current projects
  • Very practical, includes a complete metadata acquisition methodology and project plan to guide readers every step of the way
  • Includes sample unstructured metadata for use in self-testing and developing skills

Table of contents

  1. Front Cover
  2. Business Metadata
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication Page
  5. Brief Table of Contents
  6. Complete Table of Contents (1/2)
  7. Complete Table of Contents (2/2)
  8. Preface
  9. Chapter 1: Introducing Business Metadata
    1. 1.1 Introduction
    2. 1.2 A Brief History of Metadata
      1. 1.2.1 In the Beginning
      2. 1.2.2 Disk Storage
      3. 1.2.3 Access to Data
      4. 1.2.4 The Personal Computer
      5. 1.2.5 Data Warehousing
      6. 1.2.6 Metadata in Systems Evolution
    3. 1.3 Types of Metadata
      1. 1.3.1 Business Metadata versus Technical Metadata
      2. 1.3.2 Business Metadata
    4. 1.4 Where Can You Find Business Metadata?
      1. 1.4.1 Business Metadata on a Screen
      2. 1.4.2 Reports and Business Metadata
      3. 1.4.3 Corporate Forms and Business Metadata
    5. 1.5 Structured and Unstructured Metadata
      1. 1.5.1 A Grid for Metadata
    6. 1.6 Where Business Metadata Is Stored
    7. 1.7 When Does Business Data Become Business Metadata?
    8. 1.8 Business Metadata over Time
    9. 1.9 Reference Files: Master Data Management (MDM) and Business Metadata
    10. 1.10 Summary
  10. Chapter 2: The Value of Business Metadata Management
    1. 2.1 Introduction
    2. 2.2 Background
    3. 2.3 Definition of Metadata Revisited
      1. 2.3.1 Library Card Catalog
    4. 2.4 Business Metadata’s Importance in a Report
    5. 2.5 Metadata Chaos
      1. 2.5.1 So Why Is Metadata Management Important?
      2. 2.5.2 Reusing Data
      3. 2.5.3 Accuracy of Information
    6. 2.6 Summary
    7. 2.7 References
  11. Chapter 3: Who Is Responsible for Business Metadata: Business Metadata Stewardship
    1. 3.1 Introduction
    2. 3.2 Who Is Responsible for Business Metadata?
    3. 3.3 Business Metadata Stewardship Concepts
      1. 3.3.1 Ownership Definition
      2. 3.3.2 Stewardship Definition
    4. 3.4 Organizational Options for Business Metadata Stewardship
      1. 3.4.1 The Data Governance Council
      2. 3.4.2 Approaches to Business Metadata Stewardship
    5. 3.5 Metadata Life Cycle and Governance
    6. 3.6 Business Metadata Data Quality Considerations
    7. 3.7 Funding Business Metadata
      1. 3.7.1 The Centralized Implementation
      2. 3.7.2 The Localized Implementation
      3. 3.7.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Funding Models
    8. 3.8 Summary
    9. 3.9 References
  12. Chapter 4: Business Metadata, Communication, and Search
    1. 4.1 Introduction
    2. 4.2 The Basic Problem in Information Management
      1. 4.2.1 Lack of Communication Clarity
      2. 4.2.2 The Importance of Definitions
    3. 4.3 The Definition
      1. 4.3.1 Components of a Definition
      2. 4.3.2 Definition Usage Notes
      3. 4.3.3 Miscellaneous Guidelines
    4. 4.4 Communications and Search
      1. 4.4.1 The High Cost of Not Finding Information
      2. 4.4.2 Quantifying Search Problems
    5. 4.5 Business Metadata and Search
      1. 4.5.2 Classification
    6. 4.6 Summary
    7. 4.7 References
  13. Chapter 5: Initiating a Business Metadata Project
    1. 5.1 Introduction
    2. 5.2 Why Consolidate or Integrate Metadata?
    3. 5.3 Metadata Project Planning and Scoping Considerations
      1. 5.3.1 Business Metadata Versus Technical Metadata
      2. 5.3.2 Different Iterations of Development
      3. 5.3.3 Technology Tool: Local Metadata
    4. 5.4 Defining the Scope of the Metadata Repository
      1. 5.4.1 The Sources of Business and Technical Metadata
    5. 5.5 Summary
  14. Chapter 6: Business Metadata Capture
    1. 6.1 Introduction
    2. 6.2 Why Bother to Capture Business Metadata?
      1. 6.2.1 People Leaving
      2. 6.2.2 Other Business Motivations for Knowledge Capture
    3. 6.3 The Corporate Knowledge Base
      1. 6.3.1 The Corporate Glossary: Beginning of a Knowledge Base
      2. 6.3.2 What Is the Corporate Knowledge Base?
    4. 6.4 Principles of Knowledge Capture
      1. 6.4.1 What Is the Knowledge Capture Culture?
    5. 6.5 Socialization of Knowledge
    6. 6.6 Technology That Fosters Knowledge Socialization
      1. 6.6.1 Social Networking
      2. 6.6.2 Portals and Collaboration Servers
      3. 6.6.3 Wikis and Knowledge Socialization
      4. 6.6.4 Wikis and Governance
    7. 6.7 Balancing Out the Need for Governance with the Need for Contributions: “Governance Litetrade”
      1. 6.7.1 How Governance Litetrade Works
      2. 6.7.2 The Search for Technology
      3. 6.7.3 Business Glossary Technology
    8. 6.8 Publicity
      1. 6.8.1 Visibility versus Usefulness
    9. 6.9 Knowledge Capture from Individuals: The Individual Documentation Problem
    10. 6.10 Web 2.0 and Knowledge Capture
      1. 6.10.1 Mashups
      2. 6.10.2 User-Defined Tags: Folksonomy
    11. 6.11 Summary
    12. 6.12 References
  15. Chapter 7: Capturing Business Metadata from Existing Data
    1. 7.1 Introduction
    2. 7.2 Technical Sources of (Both Business and Technical) Metadata
      1. 7.2.1 Enterprise Resource Planning Applications
      2. 7.2.2 Reports
      3. 7.2.3 Spreadsheets
      4. 7.2.4 Documents
      5. 7.2.5 DBMS System Catalogs
      6. 7.2.6 Business Intelligence Tools
      7. 7.2.7 Extract-Transform-Load (ETL)
      8. 7.2.8 Legacy Systems and On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) Applications
      9. 7.2.9 The Data Warehouse
      10. 7.2.10 Summary of Metadata Sources
    3. 7.3 Editing the Metadata as It Passes into the Enterprise Metadata Repository
      1. 7.3.1 Automation of Editing
      2. 7.3.2 “Granularizing” Metadata
      3. 7.3.3 Expanding Definitions and Descriptions
      4. 7.3.4 Synonym Resolution
      5. 7.3.5 Homonym Resolution
      6. 7.3.6 Using a Staging Area
      7. 7.3.7. Manual Metadata Editing
    4. 7.4 Turning Technical Metadata into Business Metadata
    5. 7.5 Summary
  16. Chapter 8: Business Metadata Delivery
    1. 8.1 Introduction
    2. 8.2 Separating Business Metadata and Technical Metadata
    3. 8.3 Principles of Business Metadata Delivery
      1. 8.3.1 The Importance of Easy Access: Avoid the “Roach Motel!”
      2. 8.3.2 Who Will Use It and How? Business Metadata Use Cases
    4. 8.4 Indirect Usage of Business Metadata
      1. 8.4.1 Accessibility from Multiple Places
      2. 8.4.2 Web Examples of Business Metadata Delivery
      3. 8.4.3 Business Metadata Delivery in an Interactive Report
      4. 8.4.4 Business Metadata Access from Applications
    5. 8.5 Business Metadata Delivery Use Cases
      1. 8.5.1 Corporate Dictionary Example
      2. 8.5.2 Business Metadata and Training
      3. 8.5.3 Business Metadata and Web 2.0: Mashups
      4. 8.5.4 Visual Analytic Techniques
      5. 8.5.5 Technical Use of Business Metadata
      6. 8.5.6 Delivery of the Integration of Business and Technical Metadata Technical Metadata
    6. 8.6 Summary
    7. 8.7 References/Acknowledgments
  17. Chapter 9: Business Metadata Infrastructure
    1. 9.1 Introduction
    2. 9.2 Types of Business Metadata
    3. 9.3 The Metadata Warehouse
      1. 9.3.1 Business Metadata Differences
    4. 9.4 Delivery Considerations
      1. 9.4.1 Delivery in the Legacy Environment
      2. 9.4.2 Infrastructure Required for BI Environments
      3. 9.4.3 Graphical Affinity
      4. 9.4.4 New Web 2.0 Technology: Mashups!
    5. 9.5 Integration
      1. 9.5.1 Business and Technical Metadata Integration
      2. 9.5.2 Integration and Administrative Source of Record: Conflict Resolution
      3. 9.5.3 Integration Technologies
    6. 9.6 Administrative Issues
      1. 9.6.1 Administration Functionality Requirements
      2. 9.6.2 Do You Keep History?
    7. 9.7 Metadata Repository: “Buy or Build”
      1. 9.7.1 Considerations in Making the Decision
      2. 9.7.2 Special Challenges of Business Metadata
    8. 9.8 The Build Considerations
    9. 9.9 The Third Alternative: Use a Preexisting Repository
    10. 9.10 Summary
  18. Chapter 10: Data and Information Quality as Business Metadata
    1. 10.1 Introduction
    2. 10.2 Definition and Purpose of Data and Information Quality
      1. 10.2.1 Distinction between Data and Information
      2. 10.2.2 Adding Quality
    3. 10.3 Information Quality as Business Metadata
      1. 10.3.1 The Interaction of Business and Technical Metadata (1/2)
      2. 10.3.1 The Interaction of Business and Technical Metadata (2/2)
    4. 10.4 Setting Expectations for the Data: The Dictionary’s Role
    5. 10.5 Information Quality Methodology
    6. 10.6 Information Quality Business Metadata Delivery
    7. 10.7 Summary
    8. 10.8 References
  19. Chapter 11: Semantics and Business Metadata
    1. 11.1 Introduction
    2. 11.2 The Vision of the Semantic Web
    3. 11.3 The Importance of Semantics
      1. 11.3.1 Semantics Are Context-Sensitive
    4. 11.4 Attempts to Capture Semantics: Semantic Frameworks
      1. 11.4.1 Controlled Vocabulary
      2. 11.4.2 Glossary
      3. 11.4.3 Taxonomy
      4. 11.4.4 Entity/Relationship (ER) Model and Thesauri
      5. 11.4.5 Conceptual Model, RDF and OWL, Topic Map, UML
      6. 11.4.6 Description Logics and Other Forms of Logic
      7. 11.4.7 Ontology
    5. 11.5 Semantics as Business Metadata
      1. 11.5.1 Semantic and Conceptual Models
      2. 11.5.2 Business Metadata Expression
      3. 11.5.3 Exposing Semantics to the Business
    6. 11.6 Semantics in Practice
      1. 11.6.1 Integration, Web Services, SOA, and Semantics
      2. 11.6.2 Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)
      3. 11.6.3 An Extensive Semantic Vocabulary Implementation
    7. 11.7 Summary
    8. 11.8 References
  20. Chapter 12: Unstructured Business Metadata
    1. 12.1 Introduction
    2. 12.2 Structured Data and Unstructured Data
    3. 12.3 Text
      1. 12.3.1 A Distillation
      2. 12.3.2 Linking Unstructured with Structured Data: Bridging the Gap
    4. 12.4 Summary
  21. Chapter 13: Business Rules
    1. 13.1 Introduction
    2. 13.2 What Are Business Rules?
      1. 13.2.1 Business Rules as Business Metadata
    3. 13.3 Where Are Business Rules Found?
      1. 13.3.1 Business Rules and Managing the Business
      2. 13.3.2 Business Rule Systems
      3. 13.3.3 Rule Management
      4. 13.3.4 Business Rules and the Metadata Repository
      5. 13.3.5 Business Metadata about Business Rules
    4. 13.4 Summary
    5. 13.5 References
  22. Chapter 14: Compliance and Business Metadata
    1. 14.1 Introduction
    2. 14.2 Compliance Standards
      1. 14.2.1 Sarbanes-Oxley Provisions
    3. 14.3 Types of Compliance
      1. 14.3.1 Financial Audits
      2. 14.3.2 Communications Audits
    4. 14.4 Screening Communications
      1. 14.2.1 Sorting Through the Words and Phrases
      2. 14.2.2 Periodic Audits
      3. 14.2.3 Creating a Historical Collection
    5. 14.5 Using Data Profiling for Compliance
    6. 14.6 Summary
    7. 14.7 Reference
  23. Chapter 15: Knowledge Management and Business Metadata
    1. 15.1 Introduction
    2. 15.2 What Is Knowledge Management (KM)?
      1. 15.2.1 Why Is Knowledge Management Important?
    3. 15.3 The Intersection of Business Metadata and Knowledge Management
      1. 15.3.1 Knowledge Management Generates Business Metadata Artifacts
      2. 15.3.2 Knowledge Management Example: Corporate Dictionary
    4. 15.4 Business Metadata and Tacit Knowledge
      1. 15.4.1 Making Tacit Knowledge Explicit
      2. 15.4.2 The Knowledge-Sharing Environment: Nurturing Tacit Knowledge Transfer
    5. 15.5 Building the Corporate Knowledge Base
    6. 15.6 Knowledge Management in Practice
    7. 15.7 Knowledge Management and Social Issues
      1. 15.7.1 Graying of the Workforce
      2. 15.7.2 The Effect of Socialization on Knowledge
    8. 15.8 Summary
    9. 15.9 References
  24. Chapter 16: In Summary
    1. 16.1 Introduction
    2. 16.2 The Importance of Business Metadata
    3. 16.3 Business Metadata and Metadata Initiatives
    4. 16.4 The Essence of Business Metadata
      1. 16.4.1 The Human to Computer Communication Problem
    5. 16.5 Lessons Learned in the Field
      1. 16.5.1 Business Rules and Business Change
      2. 16.5.2 Virtual Knowledge Sharing via Groupware
      3. 16.5.3 Enterprise Search
    6. 16.6 What Does the Future Hold?
      1. 16.6.1 Metadata Delivery
      2. 16.6.2 Semantic Integration and Discovery
      3. 16.6.3 Compliance
      4. 16.6.4 Content Management and Unstructured Data Mining
    7. 16.7 Resources
    8. 16.8 Summary
  25. Appendix: Metadata System of Record Example
  26. Index (1/2)
  27. Index (2/2)

Product information

  • Title: Business Metadata: Capturing Enterprise Knowledge
  • Author(s): W.H. Inmon, Bonnie O'Neil, Lowell Fryman
  • Release date: July 2010
  • Publisher(s): Morgan Kaufmann
  • ISBN: 9780080552200