Chapter 1. Chapter 1. What Are Metadata and Why Are They Important? - Who Benefits From Metadata?

Although anyone who handles data or uses data for decisionmaking will benefit from the implementation of a sound metadata system, several categories of users have the most to gain.

For policymaking and administrative staff, metadata will help:

• improve data analysis and use by providing access to instructions and interpretation guidance;
reduce questions from the media and other data users by improving access to supporting information about data that are reported publicly;
• improve the accessibility and presentation of data for informing instructional and administrative decisionmaking;
• improve the likelihood that data about schools reflect what is really going on;
• identify why individual data elements are collected (e.g., information about mandates and use); and
• improve the understanding of connections between data and policymaking.

For technology staff, metadata will help:

• provide a clear list of technical attributes (for example, field length) that can be applied without having to reconsider management parameters each time a new item is collected and stored;
• improve the understanding of the business processes driving the collection and use of data that technical staff maintain;
• identify sensitive and confidential data, thereby improving system security;
• simplify and expedite data access and retrieval;
• reduce user inquiries to technical staff through improved system navigation and data accessibility; and
• simplify the exchange of data between systems, both within and outside the organization.

For program staff, metadata will help:

• reduce the likelihood of incorrect or inconsistent reporting;
• reduce collection demands by identifying redundant data elements;
• minimize questions from technical staff about data maintenance instructions;
• reduce questions from policymaking staff about data use instructions;
• improve data comparability and continuity over time within a program area and across the organization; and
• improve data auditing, thereby increasing overall data quality.

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