Home-Grown Metadata Repository Case Study

This is a case study on a home-grown metadata repository used as the single source of truth for generating DDL for all database changes, and a web application designed to communicate the data structures used nationally by Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance plans to validate and exchange medical claim transactions.

The presentation includes information about the metadata repository tables and data architecture tools, integrating with ERwin, and loading data from semi-structured documents. The technologies include Java, JEE, XML and HTML plus blood, sweat and tears.

The presentation includes questions to ask before deciding to build or buy, including:

- What questions do you want to answer?
- How will you populate it?
- How will you update it?
- How will you integrate with it?
- How will you advertise it?
- What application lifecycle stages will you support?

The presentation also includes some lessons learned along the eight-year development effort, both what went well as well as challenges.