1. Metadata is organized data that describes and gives information about other data. There are three main types of metadata that corporations use: descriptive metadata for discovery and identification, structural metadata for describing how complex objects are composed, and administrative metadata for management of resources. 2. Security of metadata is important as it can contain sensitive customer information. Access control, mobile device security policies, secure storage environments, and limiting what data is considered metadata can help secure it. 3. For a service division, important metadata would include customer service histories, technician information, and logs of troubleshooting activities to integrate into a new system. Master data is critical business data like customer, supplier, and organizational information.

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Company Metadata and Master Data Management
ISTM5020 - Lead Global IT Enterprise Sys
Jessica Graf
Capella University
Dr. Vincent Tran
December 14, 2014

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Metadata is organized data that defines, clarifies, pinpoints, or otherwise makes it easier
to recover, use, or handle an information source. Metadata is frequently termed data about data
or information about information. The expression metadata is used otherwise in diverse
communities. Some use it to denote to machine comprehensible information, while others use it
only for archives that define electronic resources. In the library environment, metadata is
commonly used for any formal scheme of resource description, applying to any type of object,
digital or non-digital. (Godinez M., 2010)
There are three main types of metadata that corporations use. The first is called
Descriptive metadata. This type of metadata is a source for processes such as discovery and
identification. It can include elements such as title, abstract, author, and keywords. Another type
of metadata is Structural metadata and designates how complex objects are composed, for
example, how pages are ordered to form chapters. Another important type of metadata is
Administrative Metadata. Administrative metadata delivers information to aid management of a
resource, such as when and how it was produced, file category and other technical information,
and who can open it. There are several subsets of administrative data. There is two that are
important, the first one is Rights management metadata, which used with intellectual property
rights and then there is Preservation metadata, which encompasses information needed to
document and preserve a source. Metadata can describe resources at any level of aggregation. It
can describe a collection, a single resource, or a component part of a larger resource. (Godinez
M., 2010)
Security issues around metadata are something that a corporation should take seriously.
Metadata can contain anything from DNS information about an environment to customers’

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ordering history and payment method. While this metadata is useful to company, it is a gold
mine to the hacker as they can use tools such as Exit to find to extract this useful information.
Access control is the first security issue that you would need to address. By keeping who
can access metadata to a very granular level, the safer your metadata will be. The second security
concern revolves around the use of mobile devices. As workforces become more mobile, there
are more security risks such as lost or stolen devices, unsecure connection to the metadata and
shoulder surfing for passwords and other information. While these are concerns, security
policies that surround metadata can be a security issue as well. If the policies are not flexible
enough to allow the users to do their jobs, they will find ways around the policies and that can
lead to your metadata being even more vulnerable. What you keep as metadata and where you
keep it is also a security risk. If you allow users to keep metadata locally on their computers or is
your metadata kept in a secure environment. A secure environment is not only technically secure,
but physically secure. (Yee, 2004)
When it comes to Dell’s Service division, the metadata that would have to be integrated
into a new system would include customer technical issue history and dispatch history. This
would cover service request numbers, part numbers and information about what they have
purchased from Dell. It would also have to include information about technicians that have
worked on their environment, TAMs and Sales personal that have worked with a customer.
Another important piece of metadata would be the logs from any troubleshooting done and
solutions to any technical issues. This needs to be kept not only for internal use, but for legal
reasons as well. Any metadata that pertains to the customer interaction with the service division
would need to be integrated into a new system.

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Master Data is defined as data that is critical for your business. It can also be defined as
data that is the dependable and undeviating set of identifiers and protracted attributes that
designates the fundamental entities of the enterprise including customers, prospects, citizens,
suppliers, sites, hierarchies and chart of accounts.
Master Data for the Service division would definitely include customer information,
however it would also include organizational data such as organizational charts, team charts and
workflows for escalations. These are important as the teams within the service division need to
have cross functionality in order to troubleshoot and build data centers and complex issues.

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References
Chen, M., Jin, H., Wen, Y., & Leung, V. (2013, August). Enabling technologies for future data
center networking: a primer. Network, IEEE, pp. 8-15.
Conroy, P. (2012). CPG and the Cloud: Building Better Consumer Relationships for Less. CIO
Journal.
Godinez M., H. E. (2010). The Art of Enterprise Information Architecture. Crawfordsville, IN:
IBM Press.
Sahar, F. (2013). Tradeoffs between Usability and Security. International Journal of
Engineering and Technology, 434.
Yee, K.-P. (2004). Aligning security and usability. Security & Privacy, IEEE, 2(5), 48-55.
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