Metadata

Roles that need it

• Data Governance Analyst
• Data Analyst
• Data Analyst (Banking)
• Master Data Specialist
• Business Intelligence Analyst

Skills it belongs to

• Data governance, quality and lineage
• Data modelling and schema design

Related concepts

• Data catalogueA data catalogue is a searchable inventory of an organisation's data assets with their metadata: descriptions, owners, location, quality scores and lineage. Users search it to find trusted data before building a report or model. Also spelled data catalog.
• Data dictionaryA data dictionary lists the data elements of a system or report with their technical name, business definition, data type, allowed values and source. A business glossary holds the agreed business terms; the dictionary maps them to physical fields.
• Data lineageData lineage is the documented path a data item follows from its original source through every system, transformation and control until it reaches a report, model or decision. It shows where a number came from and what was done to it. End-to-end lineage is a core expectation of the ECB for risk data.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) 2023/2854 (Data Act), EUR-Lex (external site) accessed 31 Oct 2026
• BIRD technical guidelines 4.1, ECB (external site) accessed 31 Oct 2026

Updated 31 Oct 2026.