Metadata management
Register, harvest, organize, and search metadata for databases, reports, files, APIs, and enterprise objects, and view basic lineage from those objects.
Metadata describes resources: their names, structures, sources, meanings, and ownership. Harvesting or editing descriptions does not read or change business records. See Metamodels for enterprise-specific structures.
| Workspace | Pages | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Metadata | Overview, Datasets, Reports, Files | Query registered or harvested objects |
| Harvesting Management | Systems, Data Sources, Harvesting Management, Metamodels | Prepare and execute harvesting |
| Lineage Management | Lineage Spaces, Preprocessing, Namespaces | Manage basic metadata lineage associations |
Prepare sources and plugins, select a harvesting type, execute, then query the appropriate area. File inputs such as dictionaries, DDL, and APIs create structured objects rather than Files entries.
Choose the source and result location
| Content | Entry point | Results |
|---|---|---|
| Relational/nonrelational databases and platforms | Data Source | Datasets |
| Supported FineBI, FineReport, SmartBI reports | Report | Reports |
| Custom reports created/imported in DAM or SQLink | Manual report maintenance | Reports |
| DDM dictionaries and DDL | File | Parsed objects in Datasets, not raw files in Files |
| Server files | File | Files |
| API and metamodel objects | Applicable file, source, or metamodel path | Datasets |
Use the decision table in Harvesting if unsure. Refer to DDM documentation for model design, comparison, and synchronization. After model changes, harvest again and verify metadata, standards, and lineage.
Choose a reading path
Start with Quick start, then choose a task.
| Goal | Guide |
|---|---|
| Systems and connections | Application systems and sources |
| Harvest databases, reports, files, custom objects | Harvesting |
| Least-privilege source account | Account permissions |
| Search, edit, export, bulk update | Tables and columns |
| Maintain objects after changes | Object maintenance, Model change review |
| Standardize semantics and values | Standard mappings |
| Reports and files | Report and file metadata |
| Upstream and downstream | Basic lineage |
| Custom structures | Metamodel design |
| Built-in and custom models | Metamodel concepts |
| Custom object instances | Metamodel harvesting |
| Import and lineage synchronization | Metamodel import |
View the metadata overview
The overview shows systems, harvesting, standards, rules, and reports. Edit mode changes widgets and layout. Background jobs calculate statistics; do not replace result verification with recently saved overview counts.
Connection coverage is systems with data sources divided by all systems. Standard coverage is mapped columns divided by all columns. Standards validation coverage is fully conforming mapped columns divided by all mapped columns. System data source counts include only harvested sources.
Understand the SQLink boundary
Metadata lineage supports upstream/downstream inspection. A Lineage Management license is different from SQLINK. See Data lineage for maps, scenarios, advanced parsing, and impact analysis.