13.1 Introduction

Metadata is data about data, or "attributes that describe data", and might include attributes such as the author's name and file type - all information which Business Collaborator automatically stores. However, in many circumstances, it is useful to be able to specify additional, custom attributes, or "project-specific" metadata. These could include project information such as client name, project number or project manager's name. It may also be relevant to include a delivery, submission or review date or allow users to give the document a rating (e.g. from "1 to 10"). Categorising metadata in such a way makes information retrieval simpler - users can search for projects being managed by X or documents with a delivery date of Y. Built-in metadata from previous versions of Business Collaborator (i.e. before version 4.9) can also be searched for attributes such as author's name, file type etc.

In Business Collaborator version 4.9, this "project-specific" metadata has been introduced. Only certain users, typically the project manager, will define or change the types of metadata (see section 13.2 - Defining Metadata). However, all users may be required to supply values for the metadata that the project manager has defined. These values provided by users are associated with the documents or folders to which they refer, in the same way as an author's name or file type are automatically associated with documents by Business Collaborator.

As metadata will usually be defined by the project manager or a small group of people working on the project, the majority of users will therefore simply need to supply information when prompted for it. These users should skip section 13.2 Defining Metadata and move directly to section 13.3 Using Metadata.