What is Structural Metadata?
- Charlotte Reynolds
In this article:
What is “Structural Metadata”?
Simply put, structural metadata describes the variables within a dataset and how they are organised.
What do I need to include?
We recommend you provide a data dictionary of structural metadata that includes the following information:
Metadata Field | Completion Guidance | Constraints | Mandatory? |
|---|---|---|---|
Table Name | Name of the table in the dataset. Use a fully qualified name if appropriate. | 255 characters max | Yes |
Table Description | Description of the table in the dataset. | 20,000 characters max | No |
Column Name | Name of the column in the table dataset | 255 characters max | Yes |
Column Description | Description of the column in the table dataset. | 20,000 characters max | No |
Data Type Name | Type of data contained in the column. | 255 characters max | Yes |
Sensitive | Please indicate (True / False) whether the information must be treated as sensitive and may need additional constraints / removal / anonymisation / masking through the data access request process. | True / False only. | Yes |
Where can I see some concrete examples of valid Structural Metadata?
Please see the following example for your reference.
If you require further clarification, we also have several fully populated submissions from other sites that we would be happy to walk through with you. Please contact us via Service Desk to arrange a session.
Structural Metadata Example | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Table Name | Table Description | Column Name | Column Description | Data Type | Sensitive |
Summary | The summary | Identifier | The identifier | String | TRUE |
Summary | The summary | Title | The title | String | FALSE |
Summary | The summary | Description | The description | String | TRUE |
Required | The required elements | Release Date | The release date | Date | FALSE |
Required | The required elements | Data Controller | The controller | String | FALSE |
Required | The required elements | Data Processor | The data processor | String | TRUE |
Required | The required elements | License | The license | String | FALSE |
Recommended | The recommended elements | Periodicity | The periodicity | Integer | TRUE |
Recommended | The recommended elements | Frequency | The frequency | String | FALSE |
What format should this be in?
The standard format required is an excel file which includes the Metadata Fields listed in the table above (Table Name, Table Description, Column Name, Column Description, Data Type, Sensitive).
Please see this template file:
Is an Excel spreadsheet the only way I can upload metadata?
Definitely not!
This simple excel template is used as the low common denominator to make our interface as accessible as possible.
However, there are several different methods that supervisors can use to consume and update metadata. We've already used a few of these different formats, on request, with other clients:
REST API that accepts well-formed XML, such as these:
2. We can also accept reports from a profiling tool called WhiteRabbit .
WhiteRabbit is a .jar (with a UI if you need) that you can point at a database and generate a profiling report from, which can then be used to create a detailed data dictionary.
If you would like to know more about these options please raise a Service Desk ticket and we will be happy to arrange a call to walk through these with you.