Metadata is described as data about data. Stored in database tables, metadata describes the history, content and function of the database tables, columns, and joins in intelligible business terms.
Metadata can overcome awkward names or ambiguous abbreviations often used in a database. Complex and confusing names are derived because, while database engineers are good at designing tables, they may not understand the business process as the users of the database; for example, managers or salespeople. Therefore, a database engineer can create a table called Prod, when the users prefer to call it Product Descriptions. As database tables cannot be easily changed after creation, Interactive Reporting Studio offers metadata as a way of making the tables (and columns in each table) more user-friendly.
When tables are retrieved using an Interactive Reporting database connection (OCE extension) with metadata (Metadata OCE), the table names are displayed; for example, as Product Descriptions and Sales Figures, rather than the raw names Prod and Sal. Queries, charts, and pivots are then created with more familiar names, such as Product Descriptions, instead of Prod.