Bedarfsanalyse fachlicher Metadaten - Universität St.Gallen

96 Beitrag D
11.3 Functional Map
For the desk research, we picked the five best-ranked metadata repository vendors according
to Gartner’s magic quadrant [Blechar 2005]: Allen Systems Group 13 (ASG),
Logic Library 14 , Flashline, Computer Associates 15 (CA), and MetaMatrix 16 . Since
Flashline has been acquired since the issue of the Gartner report, SAP BusinessObjects
17 has been included instead. The basis for the design of the functional map
formed publicly available product information and presentations for the respective
products: ASG-Rochade [Lux 2010] and ASG-metaGlossary [ASG 2009], Repository
Manager (formerly Logidex) [SOA 2009], CA Repository [CA 2008; CA 2009], MetaMatrix
Repository (as part of MetaMatrix Enterprise Data Services Platform) [JBoss
2008], and SAP BusinessObjects Metadata Management [SAP 2008].
To classify the different functionality in these products, the article differentiates three
basic domains: definition/sourcing, integration, and presentation. The first constitutes
the ability to define and/or source metadata (e.g., lineage data from ETL tools). The
second integrates different types of metadata to a new class (e.g., technical lineage
data plus elements of terminology, compliance, and quality management results in
process metadata). The third and last domain groups different techniques in presenting
the business metadata to the user (e.g., within a stand-alone information portal).
11.3.1 Definition/Sourcing Functionality
Definition and sourcing (from other tools) of business metadata is the core ability of a
metadata repository. In this domain, the functionality falls in three different buckets:
syntax, semantic, and administrative. This depends on whether it reveals the formal
relationships of data and/or systems (syntax, e.g., defining the data elements of a term
to be unambiguously described), or maintains the actual content (semantic, e.g., the set
of business terms), or supports the maintenance of the actual content (administrative,
e.g., a workflow management functionality to regularly update and sign off new business
terms).
The group “syntax” comprises two functionalities: data modeling and (technical lineage).
Data modeling is used to describe data in a formal way (on a conceptual, logi-
13 www.asg.com
14 www.logiclibrary.com
15 www.ca.com
16 www.redhat.com/metamatrix
17 www.sap.com