AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON NEW YORK OXFORD PARIS SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO-SINGAPORE-SYDNEY'TOKYO B ^ ^ B ^ ^

Transcription

1 Business Metadata Capturing Enterprise Knowledge W.H. Inmon Bonnie O'Neil Lowell Fryman AMSTERDAM BOSTON HEIDELBERG LONDON NEW YORK OXFORD PARIS SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO-SINGAPORE-SYDNEY'TOKYO B ^ ^ B ^ ^ Morgan Kaufmann Publishers is an imprint of Elsevier MORGAN KAUFMANN PUBLISHERS

2 Preface xix Chapter 1 Introducing Business Metadata 1.1 Introduction A Brief History of Metadata 3 In the Beginning 4 Disk Storage 4 Access to Data 6 The Personal Computer 7 Data Warehousing 7 Metadata in Systems Evolution Types of Metadata 12 Business Metadata versus Technical Metadata 12 Business Metadata Where Can You Find Business Metadata? 13 Business Metadata on a Screen 13 Reports and Business Metadata 14 Corporate Forms and Business Metadata Structured and Unstructured Metadata 16 A Grid for Metadata Where Business Metadata Is Stored When Does Business Data Become Business Metadata? Business Metadata over Time Reference Files: Master Data Management (MDM) and Business Metadata Summary 22 IX

3 x Complete Table of Contents Chapter 2 The Value of Business Metadata Management Introduction Background Definition of Metadata Revisited 26 Library Card Catalog Business Metadata's Importance in a Report Metadata Chaos 31 So Why Is Metadata Management Important? 32 Reusing Data 32 Accuracy of Information Summary References 35 Chapter 3 Who Is Responsible for Business Metadata: Business Metadata Stewardship Introduction Who Is Responsible for Business Metadata? Business Metadata Stewardship Concepts 40 Ownership Definition 40 Stewardship Definition Organizational Options for Business Metadata Stewardship 41 The Data Governance Council 42 Approaches to Business Metadata Stewardship Metadata Life Cycle and Governance Business Metadata Data Quality Considerations Funding Business Metadata 50 The Centralized Implementation 51 The Localized Implementation 51 Advantages and Disadvantages of Funding Models Summary References 53

4 xi Chapter 4 Business Metadata, Communication, and Search Introduction The Basic Problem in Information Management 56 Lack of Communication Clarity 56 The Importance of Definitions The Definition 60 Components of a Definition 61 Definition Usage Notes 62 Miscellaneous Guidelines Communications and Search 65 The High Cost of Not Finding Information 65 Quantifying Search Problems Business Metadata and Search 70 Classification Summary References 78 Chapters Initiating a Business Metadata Project Introduction Why Consolidate or Integrate Metadata? Metadata Project Planning and Scoping Considerations 82 Business Metadata Versus Technical Metadata 83 Different Iterations of Development 84 Technology Tool: Local Metadata Defining the Scope of the Metadata Repository 85 The Sources of Business and Technical Metadata Summary 87

5 er 6 Business Metadata Capture Introduction Why Bother to Capture Business Metadata? 90 People Leaving 91 Other Business Motivations for Knowledge Capture The Corporate Knowledge Base 93 The Corporate Glossary: Beginning of a Knowledge Base 93 What Is the Corporate Knowledge Base? Principles of Knowledge Capture 95 What Is the Knowledge Capture Culture? Socialization of Knowledge TechnologyThat Fosters Knowledge Socialization 98 Social Networking 99 Portals and Collaboration Servers 100 Wikis and Knowledge Socialization 103 Wikis and Governance Balancing Out the Need for Governance with the Need for Contributions: "Governance Lite " 107 How Governance Lite Works 107 The Search for Technology 109 Business Glossary Technology Publicity 112 Visibility versus Usefulness Knowledge Capture from Individuals: The Individual Documentation Problem Web 2.0 and Knowledge Capture 115 Mashups 115 User-Defined Tags: Folksonomy Summary References 119

6 xiii.napicr / Capturing Business Metadata from Existing Data Introduction Technical Sources of (Both Business and Technical) Metadata 122 Enterprise Resource Planning Applications 122 Reports 122 Spreadsheets 123 Documents 123 DBMS System Catalogs 124 Business Intelligence Tools 124 Extract-Transform-Load (ETL) 124 Legacy Systems and On-Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) Applications 125 The Data Warehouse 126 Summary of Metadata Sources Editing the Metadata as It Passes into the Enterprise Metadata Repository 128 Automation of Editing 128 "Granularizing" Metadata 129 Expanding Definitions and Descriptions 129 Synonym Resolution 131 Homonym Resolution 132 Using a Staging Area 134 Manual Metadata Editing Turning Technical Metadata into Business Metadata Summary 137 Chapter 8 Business Metadata Delivery Introduction Separating Business Metadata and Technical Metadata 140

7 8.3 Principles of Business Metadata Delivery 140 The Importance of Easy Access: Avoid the "Roach Motel!" 141 Who Will Use It and How? Business Metadata Use Cases Indirect Usage of Business Metadata 141 Accessibility from Multiple Places 142 Web Examples of Business Metadata Delivery 143 Business Metadata Delivery in an Interactive Report 145 Business Metadata Access from Applications Business Metadata Delivery Use Cases 147 Corporate Dictionary Example 147 Business Metadata and Training 148 Business Metadata and Web 2.0: Mashups 149 Visual Analytic Techniques 150 Technical Use of Business Metadata 151 Delivery of the Integration of Business and Technical Metadata Summary References/Acknowledgments 155 и 9 Business Metadata Infrastructure Introduction Types of Business Metadata The Metadata Warehouse 160 Business Metadata Differences Delivery Considerations 162 Delivery in the Legacy Environment 162 Infrastructure Required for Bl Environments 163 Graphical Affinity 163 New Web 2.0 Technology: Mashups! Integration 165 Business and Technical Metadata Integration 165 Integration and Administrative Source of Record: Conflict Resolution 167 Integration Technologies 167

8 x Administrative Issues 169 Administration Functionality Requirements 169 Do You Keep History? Metadata Repository: "Buy or Build" 170 Considerations in Making the Decision 171 Special Challenges of Business Metadata The Build Considerations The Third Alternative: Use a Preexisting Repository Summary 173 Chapter 10 Data and Information Quality as Business Metadata Introduction Definition and Purpose of Data and Information Quality 176 Distinction between Data and Information 176 Adding Quality Information Quality as Business Metadata 177 The Interaction of Business and Technical Metadata Setting Expectations for the Data: The Dictionary's Role Information Quality Methodology Information Quality Business Metadata Delivery Summary References 194 Chapter 11 Semantics and Business Metadata Introduction The Vision of the Semantic Web The Importance of Semantics 196 Semantics Are Context-Sensitive 197

9 11.4 Attempts to Capture Semantics: Semantic Frameworks 200 Controlled Vocabulary 200 Glossary 201 Taxonomy 202 Entity/Relationship (ER) Model and Thesauri 203 Conceptual Model, RDF and OWL, Topic Map, UML 204 Description Logics and Other Forms of Logic 206 Ontology Semantics as Business Metadata 207 Semantic and Conceptual Models 208 Business Metadata Expression 209 Exposing Semantics to the Business Semantics in Practice 211 Integration, Web Services, SOA, and Semantics 211 Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) 214 An Extensive Semantic Vocabulary Implementation Summary References 217 Chapter 12 Unstructured Business Metadata Introduction Structured Data and Unstructured Data Text 223 A Distillation 224 Linking Unstructured with Structured Data: Bridging the Gap Summary 233 Chapter 13 Business Rules Introduction What Are Business Rules? 235 Business Rules as Business Metadata 237

10 xvii 13.3 Where Are Business Rules Found? 237 Business Rules and Managing the Business 238 Business Rule Systems 239 Rule Management 243 Business Rules and the Metadata Repository 244 Business Metadata about Business Rules Summary References 246 Chapter 14 Compliance and Business Metadata Introduction Compliance Standards 248 Sarbanes-Oxley Provisions Types of Compliance 249 Financial Audits 249 Communications Audits Screening Communications 251 Sorting Through the Words and Phrases 252 Periodic Audits 253 Creating a Historical Collection Using Data Profiling for Compliance Summary Reference 257 Chapter 15 Knowledge Management and Business Metadata Introduction What Is Knowledge Management (KM)? 260 Why Is Knowledge Management Important? The Intersection of Business Metadata and Knowledge Management 261 Knowledge Management Generates Business Metadata Artifacts 262 Knowledge Management Example: Corporate Dictionary 263

11 ._-!> II Complete Table of Contents 15.4 Business Metadata and Tacit Knowledge 264 Making Tacit Knowledge Explicit 264 The Knowledge-Sharing Environment: Nurturing Tacit Knowledge Transfer Building the Corporate Knowledge Base Knowledge Management in Practice Knowledge Management and Social Issues 269 Graying of the Workforce 269 The Effect of Socialization on Knowledge Summary References 271 Chapter 16 In Summary Introduction The Importance of Business Metadata Business Metadata and Metadata Initiatives The Essence of Business Metadata 276 The Human to Computer Communication Problem Lessons Learned in the Field 278 Business Rules and Business Change 278 Virtual Knowledge Sharing via Groupware 279 Enterprise Search What Does the Future Hold? 280 Metadata Delivery 280 Semantic Integration and Discovery 280 Compliance 280 Content Management and Unstructured Data Mining Resources Summary 282 Appendix 283 Index 287