The Microsoft® Data Warehouse Toolkit: With SQL Server 2008 R2 and the Microsoft® Business Intelligence Toolset, Second Edition

Chapter 15. Metadata Plan

The Bermuda Triangle of data warehousing.

Metadata is a vast, relatively uncharted region of the DW/BI system. Some teams sail into it full speed ahead, never to be heard from again. Most teams try to avoid the problem by sailing around it. Unfortunately, the metadata region is smack in the middle of your path to the great new world of business value, and you need to figure out how to navigate it successfully.

One of the first metadata challenges is figuring out what metadata is. We begin this chapter with a brief definition and description of the three major categories of metadata found in a DW/BI system: business, technical, and process metadata.

With a common terminology in place, your next challenge is to figure out what metadata you have and where it comes from. We explore the various sources and uses of metadata across the SQL Server toolset. Every component of the toolset is metadata-driven. The problem is the metadata is kept in different locations and different formats, so finding and managing the metadata is challenging. Finally, we describe a basic, practical approach for dealing with the most important and broadly used metadata elements.

Metadata creation and management can be a tangled topic. What we present here is a starting point. Many of you, and certainly those of you in larger organizations, will need to expand on our recommendations and customize them to your environment.

In this chapter, you will learn:

• What we mean by metadata and why you ...