{
  "id": "dwd_gubdecks",
  "type": "term",
  "slug": "technical-metadata",
  "title": "Technical metadata",
  "summary": "Facts about how data is physically stored and moved: names, types, locations, schemas and jobs.",
  "status": "draft",
  "classification": "public",
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Shan Umasankar",
      "url": "https://dealwithdata.com",
      "role": "author"
    }
  ],
  "assisted_by": [
    "Claude"
  ],
  "scales": [
    "personal",
    "business",
    "enterprise"
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    "physical metadata"
  ],
  "related": [
    "dwd_wg5zzqg2"
  ],
  "created": "2026-10-07",
  "updated": "2026-10-07",
  "version": 1,
  "url": "https://dealwithdata.com/glossary/technical-metadata/",
  "markdown_url": "https://dealwithdata.com/glossary/technical-metadata.md",
  "body_markdown": "Technical metadata describes the data as the machines see it: database, schema, table and column names, data types, keys, file paths, and the jobs that read and write them. It is usually harvested automatically from the systems themselves.\n\n**Example:** `LOAN_DTL.OUTSTANDING_BAL_AMT`, `DECIMAL(18,2)`, in schema `LND` on an Oracle database, loaded nightly by a batch job.\n\n**Three scales**\n- *Personal:* the folder, file name and format of your tax spreadsheet.\n- *Business:* the columns in your accounting system's invoice table.\n- *Enterprise:* millions of datasets harvested from hundreds of platforms.\n\n**Not to be confused with** [[business-metadata]], which says what the data *means*.\n"
}