Metadata management tools help you catalog and govern data assets, enabling teams across an organization to find information quickly. They provide a unified, collaborative view of information from various sources, including databases, ETLs, business intelligence (BI) systems, and other repositories.

The metadata management market includes on-premises and cloud-based tools, with the cloud deployment mode projected to hold a larger share in 2021. These solutions are used for a variety of use cases, including data democratization, compliance, and business intelligence.

Administrative metadata relates to the technical source or lineage of data assets. This includes elements like file type, creation date, usage rights, asset owner, archival rules, and more. It can be manually created or automatically generated with machine learning.

Identifying relationships between data entities is critical for understanding customer behavior, access trees, and other useful insights. Smartlogic Semaphore, for instance, uses a customizable rules-driven approach to relationship tracking that includes identifying and handling sensitive data appropriately.

Define your strategy and scope

The best metadata management tools will support all aspects of your business, including data analysis, data quality, governance, and compliance needs. This will include scalable storage and search functionality, as well as AI & ML capabilities for data profiling, intelligent tagging, and metadata recommendation.

Select a solution that offers metadata scanning capabilities for multiple data sources, both on-premises and multi-cloud. These features can enable you to track changes in your data, and they are especially valuable when looking for regulatory compliance and agility.