DATA WAREHOUSING FUNDAMENTALS: A Comprehensive Guide for IT Professionals

9.6. HOW TO PROVIDE METADATA

As your data warehouse is being designed and built, metadata needs to be collected and recorded. As you know, metadata describes your data warehouse from various points of view. You look into the data warehouse through the metadata to find the data sources, to understand the data extractions and transformations, to determine how to navigate through the contents, and to retrieve information. Most of the data warehouse processes are performed with the aid of software tools. The same metadata or true copies of the relevant subsets must be available to every tool.

In a recent study conducted by the Data Warehousing Institute, 86% of the respondents fully recognized the significance of having a metadata management strategy. However, only 9% had implemented a metadata solution. Another 16% had a plan and had begun to work on the implementation.

If most of the companies with data warehouses realize the enormous significance of metadata management, why are only a small percentage doing anything about it? Metadata management presents great challenges. The challenges are not in the capturing of meta-data through the use of the tools during data warehouse processes but lie in the integration of the metadata from the various tools that create and maintain their own metadata.

We will explore the challenges. How can you find options to overcome the challenges and establish effective metadata management in your data warehouse environment? What is happening in the ...