BI: Metadata Management

Ever had the situation where there where 3 managers with 3 different reports and all these reports showed the profit ($) but all the numbers where different. Well I have.

Metadata Management is the practice where every term has only one description, definition and (technical) calculation. I am a BI expert and this is one of the most challenging tasks.

The ultimate goal is to have all the managers/business-users look at the same numbers and understand the meaning behind the numbers.

The process I normally take to get to the ultimate goal is:

1. Interview the key business-users that use the reports with the differences. To get a clear understanding of their interpretations and to understand the business processes.
2. Execute a data analysis to understand the data and the calculations.
3. Have a meeting with the key business-users and a sponsor (example CFO) to define the different terms. And to determine the ownership.
   
4. Document and communicate this clearly to the business-users.