Metadata Management and Data Governance - Data Governance: Creating Value from Information Assets - page 51

FIGURE 3.6
Technical metadata example.
in Figure 3.6, Encounter ID in the Claim table is a numeric (10) data type.
Also, it describes the location of the data elements. Technical metadata is
very critical in a federated architecture where a data model is implement-
ing across many different servers in different locations. For example, on
Server A, the patient's first name might be a 5-character field. On Server B,
it may be a 20-character field. The patient's first name would not be consis-
tent across these two servers because a patient's name could be truncated
on Server A. For example, Michael would appear as Micha on Server A and
Michael on Server B. The Governance Board needs to understand these
technical data abnormities. The lack of enforcing consistent technical
metadata across servers is the primary reason federated architectures fail.
Process Metadata
Process metadata describes the data input process. It includes source target
maps, integration rules, validation rules, and consolidation rules. An inte-
gration rule could transform a 43 code to a standard code of Co (Colorado).
A validation rule would verify that the Gender Code was an M or F or that
the age of a patient was less than 200 years. A consolidation rule could
combine North Zanesville and South Zanesville data into one Zanesville.
Process metadata tools need to support two important governance
features: (1) data lineage and (2) impact analysis.