Obviously, metadata is everywhere and quite often, there is more metadata than actual data. Accordingly, metadata management is a cross-sectional task that spans an entire BIA architecture (Figure 2). The goal is usually to establish a centralized metadata management in order to provide a holistic perspective of an entire organization.

Metadata is a key governance component that is necessary to achieve high levels of data utility. Data is useful when it can be found, understood, traced, and trusted. Metadata management quickly becomes a data management success pillar when we recognize that metadata exists in many forms, is collected by many processes and technologies, and is stored in multiple locations. Trusted and reliable metadata is as important for data management as trusted and reliable business data is for business management.