Metadata Strategy and Design Flashcards

What is the primary purpose of a 'data dictionary' as distinct from a 'business glossary' in metadata management?

Answer: A data dictionary specifies technical attributes of data elements such as data type, length, and format

A data dictionary focuses on technical specifications of data elements, while a business glossary captures business-oriented definitions and context.

Which metadata property is essential for enabling time-travel queries in a versioned data system?

Answer: Valid-time and transaction-time timestamps (bitemporal metadata)

Bitemporal metadata captures both when a fact was true in reality (valid-time) and when it was recorded in the system (transaction-time), enabling point-in-time historical queries.

An architect needs to link conceptual data models to physical database implementations. Which metadata artifact serves this bridging function?

Answer: Logical-to-physical data mapping document

Logical-to-physical mapping documents link abstract data model concepts to concrete database tables, columns, and types, bridging design and implementation.

In graph-based metadata management, what does an 'edge' in the metadata graph typically represent?

Answer: A relationship or dependency between metadata nodes

In a metadata graph, nodes represent data assets or concepts while edges represent relationships such as 'derived from,' 'related to,' or 'contains.'

Which metadata management pattern ensures that downstream consumers are automatically notified when metadata definitions change?

Answer: Event-driven metadata propagation with change notifications

Event-driven metadata propagation publishes change events when metadata updates occur, enabling downstream systems and consumers to react automatically.

What is 'dark data' and how does metadata strategy address it?

Answer: Data collected but never analyzed or leveraged for value, identified through metadata discovery

Dark data is collected but unused organizational data; metadata discovery and cataloging surfaces it so organizations can assess its value or safely dispose of it.

When designing metadata for API endpoints, which element is MOST important for enabling discoverability in a service catalog?

Answer: Semantic capability description and input/output data schemas

Semantic capability descriptions and data schemas allow consumers to discover what an API does and what data it expects/returns, enabling programmatic integration.