This notion of metadata management
is not new. Indeed, there are a number of reasons for an organization to
efficiently manage any of its resources; these include:
1. An organization must optimize its resources
because it can’t afford an unlimited supply of everything
2. An organization must share and leverage a
resource as much as possible to maximize its value and minimize its cost
3. An organization must anticipate a resource’s
requirements and meet them proactively, and it can’t effectively do this
unless its resources are well-managed
4. For all these reasons,
organizations must manage their resources carefully to ensure that they are
used prudently, efficiently, effectively, and securely
The discipline of data resource
management views data as an important organizational resource that should be
treated like any other resource. According to the Data Management Association,
data resource management “facilitates the stewardship of data” and recognizes
that data (or metadata) is an important asset to an organization and is made
more valuable through “planning, communication, control, coordination, and
management.”