Metadata Standard

BEST PRACTICES

Metadata is important to your information lifecycle management (ILM) program for many reasons, especially in a world where data and information -- both physical and electronic -- are being created and collected from so many different sources.

Metadata can help your organization:

  • find what you need when you need it.

  • protect and secure data based on external and internal obligations.

  • prove data's accuracy and authenticity.

  • securely dispose of data when it is no longer required.

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AUTOMATED OR ASSISTED METADATA TAGGING

Integrate metadata capture into various workflows throughout your organization.

While it is important to capture as much metadata as you can throughout the information lifecycle, this can prove to be a challenge for the employee tasked with entering multiple metadata elements.
 

No one person should be responsible for the sum total of metadata on any given document. Sound metadata should be the responsibility of your organization at large.
 

Here are some suggestions on how you can make that happen at your organization:

Apply Metadata at a Higher Level

Apply metadata at a higher level (e.g., record class) and enable inheritance by lower level records.

Use Employee Roles

You can use employee roles -- such as their organization unit or job function -- to apply metadata based on the type of records he or she creates and receives.

Use Business Process Workflows

Using business process workflows can help your organization apply metadata as the record or records move through a repeatable process. For example, at mortgage loan origination or contract initiation.

Use a Form of Auto-Classification

Using a form of auto-classification will apply metadata when the record is created. This can be powerd by artificial intelligence, machine learning, visual recognition, or key word search, for example.

CREATE A METADATA USAGE POLICY 

Creating a policy to guide how the metadata standard is to be employed across the enterprise is important if you want to maximize the use and effectiveness of metadata.

 

Below are some best practices that should be taken into account when creating a metadata standard.

Limit
Metadata Editing Permissions

Specify which metadata fields may be altered by someone or some application other than the creator and limit metadata editing permissions. For example, only administrators and, in comes cases, applications should be granted editing capabilities.

Make Metadata
a Requirement

 

 

Make sure the metadata standard is a mandatory requirement for all information management systems and applications.

Provide Metadata 
Instructions

Provide instructions when a record is sent outside of your organization that contains metadata. It's also important to outline a systematic destruction process that names the roles required to approve the destruction of information and include specific direction regarding which metadata elements should be retained of a purged record.

USE DATA ANALYTICS

FOR INFORMATION MIGRATION

Include Data
Analytics in
Your Planning
Process

Data analytics tools should be included in your planning process if you have records lacking the required metadata earmarked for migration.
Data analytics can help populate as many metadata elements as possible before the migration takes place or even during data transfer. Analysis tools can also verify the quality and accuracy of existing metadata as well as make any necessary adjustments.

MONITOR AND ADJUST

The metadata standard you create for your organization should be robust and inclusive enough to meet current needs as well as flexible enough to adjust to future needs. However, the accuracy of the metadata should be tested periodically, especially in the early months after implementation. Then, in the future, the metadata should be tested on a routine scheduled basis.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT IMPLEMENTING A METADATA STANDARD AT YOUR ORGANIZATION?

Download the Metadata Standard Guidebook