Metadata Management: Making Sense of It All

Presentation Summary

Rainbow Di Benedetto, University of Texas at Austin
Karen Weisbrodt, University of Texas at Austin
Christina Drum, University of Nevada at Las Vegas
John Blegen, Colorado State Higher Education Executive Officers

Metadata management is a broad term used to refer to ways of collecting and organizing information about information, such as definitions of key terms, business rules applied, how data is collected, and where it is used or published. At The University of Texas at Austin, we have found that as we make more data available through the data warehouse and other means, it becomes both more difficult and more important to do this in a systematic way. We need to know exactly what we mean when we use a term like “faculty salary” or “enrolled student”; be aware of alternate definitions, where they are used, and why numbers in similar reports may differ; and be able to assess the impact of proposed changes or new reporting requirements. Currently, we use a hodgepodge of different methods and would like a more unified solution that is easy to use and maintain. We are investigating possible options and would like to share what we have found so far and hear what has worked well (or not so well) for others.