application is designed to aid companies in the area of data governance, providing a centralized view of metadata assets and their relationships. The update includes what the vendor claims is the industry's first "metapedia"--an encyclopedia that translates metadata into business definitions. Users can create and populate metapedias with a business glossary of terms, which describe their business data, or organize the terms hierarchically by subject area or business unit. They can then develop a standard vocabulary of words, phrases and business concepts, so that metadata is associated with particular terms. The result, said Business Objects, is easier navigation and data discovery by users. In addition, they can better address compliance mandates and bridge the gap between business and IT users. Metadata provides information about data from all sources within a company, so that IT professionals can better understand the business content, origin and context of all corporate, operational or technical data. With Metadata Management XI 3.0, customers can bring metadata together in one place, regardless of whether it comes from Business Objects products or other vendors' business intelligence, data-integration or data-modeling tools. Business Objects is an SAP AG company.
http://www.businessobjects.com