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Definition: Metadata

Metadata is data that provides descriptive information about other data. In the context of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and data migration, metadata typically refers to the properties or index values associated with documents, images, reports, or other content items.

Key Aspects:

  • Purpose: Used for classifying, organizing, searching, retrieving, and managing content. It provides context for the primary data.
  • Examples in ECM/Migration: Common metadata fields include document date, author, title, document type, customer ID, account number, retention period, version number, keywords, etc.
  • Handling: During migration (p28), metadata associated with source content must be extracted, potentially transformed or mapped to the target system's schema, and loaded alongside the content itself. It's also crucial for reconciliation (p29) and data retrieval from archives (p40).