"thou shalt not conflate meta-data with data"

I'm trying to decide how to handle metadata for a client who has to deal with confidential client information (SSN, name, address, etc.) Each column of confidential information is described by a code (SS, NM, AD, etc.) because the columns may have different names in different data sources.

I'm inclined to add a metadata element at the table level that flags whether or not the table contains confidential information. Then at the column level there would be a metadata element for the code that describes the type of confidential data this column contains. (This may be seen as similar to a column alias.)

Is this conflating metadata with data?

TIA,
Nolan Madson Received on Sun Feb 27 2005 - 14:16:38 CST