Example Of Essay On Meta Data Management Activities/Document And Content Management

Management

<Course Instruction>

9.1: Understand meta-data requirements (P)
In the NHS continence services database, the GP practices play very crucial roles especially in the conception and maintenance of the patient Summary Care Records (SCRs) (Health and Social Care Information Center). The business user requirements of this database are to provide users with updated information regarding its analytical and operational systems. These business users include referred patients and general practitioners. Patients access their records by maintaining online accounts on the NHS website or can obtain printed copies of their clinical records from their respective health facilities. GPs access the continence database when granting specialist referrals to patients in order to update patients’ health records concerning the change in professionals. The technical user requirements of the database provide systems and processes through which data management technicians can update the system through daily data feeds and frequent upgrades of the metadata architecture. Technical users include database administrators (DBA), IT developers, metadata architects and specialists. DBAs manage the continence database and ensure the patient's records are up to date, accurate and secure from unauthorized access. IT developers are responsible for maintaining the hardware and software components of the healthcare information system. Metadata architects and specialists add additional platforms and metadata depending on emerging business requirements regarding the use of the database.
9.2 Define the Metadata Architecture (P)
The NHS continence services database uses the centralized metadata architecture because it best suits its needs. This architectural design consists of a single metadata repository containing copies of the live-metadata from the various sources (i.e. the various GP clinics). The advantages of using a centralized repository include high availability and quick retrieval of metadata. The continence database provides detailed information on the various GP clinics associated with the NHS, which provide continence services. For instance, the “extended services from GP” tab on the NHS website contains information about general practitioners and the quality of their services as regards to continence. In addition, the “Service near you” facility, provides information on where to “look up a GP practice”. When patients register with these clinics, copies of their health record metadata are transmitted from the practitioner’s health facility to the centralized repository for storage.
9.3 Develop and Maintain Metadata Standards (P)
The NHS also uses the e-GMS (e-Government Metadata Standard). This a metadata standard developed by to ensure consistency within organizations in the public sector. It also facilitates interoperability of metadata records across management functions within the organization. Being a public service organization, the NHS is mandated to use e-GMS, whose current version stands at 3 (Higgins 2007). Data protection laws govern the standard. The e-GMS also contains Dublin Core elements that permit it to interoperate with metadata records of other standards. As a result, the NHS continence database can support XML metadata. The XML schema standards facilitate the integration of various meta-data across the NHS departments. They support services such as data modeling, business rules, import and export of data, database management. XML standards include the technical, administrative, use and preservation metadata.
9.4 Implement a Managed Metadata Environment (D)
The managed metadata environment consists of all the processes, personnel and architectural component involved in the creation and management of metadata in the organization. The NHS continence database will be implemented in incremental stages to create its acceptance among the database management personnel and other users. The pilot program will involve the formation of a connecting link between the general practitioners’ database at their respective continence clinics and the centralized continence repository at the NHS. Hence, the GPs will be responsible for inputting patient data into the database, including all the referrals they make. The GPs clinical databases act as data sources for the metadata repository by sending copies of the metadata from all the patients’ health records. The activities contained in this implementation stage include data governance, content management and access and distribution of metadata among others.
9.5 Create and Maintain Meta-data (O)
The NHS continence services database contains a metadata facility that captures data either manually using a computer system. General practitioners may feed data manually into the system through an application software, usually a database application, connected to the central repository. When the information of the patient is keyed into the system, the computer captures metadata elements such as the date and time it was created, and its file size and extension. Metadata creation policies of the database include checking for grammatical errors and typos and ensuring metadata elements for digital images entered into the system match their respective metadata descriptions.
The continence services database creates three types of metadata: structural, descriptive and administrative. Structural metadata describe data elements that need to be. They include demographic and operational information. Descriptive metadata describes attributes specific to each structural metadata identified in the database (Viola 2012). Administrative metadata are elements used to manage the database content and are usually automatically created when data is keyed into the system.

Examples of structural metadata:

Demographic data: NHS Number, First Name, Last Name, Date of Birth, Full Address, Postcode, Contact Telephone Number, Ethnicity, Gender, Next of Kin
Operational data: Referrals Date referral made, Date referral received, Referral Source: GP or hospital, Date of Contact, Time of Contact, Duration of Contact, Contact Method, Clinician Details, Outcome/Result of Contact: Attended, DNA, Date of Discharge

Examples of descriptive metadata: Maxwell Lewis, 12/11/1989, male, etc.

Examples of administrative metadata: File no: 23, date created (2/4/2015), time (12:54 p.m.)
9.6 Integrate Meta-data (C)
Integration involves consolidating metadata from their numerous sources, both internal and external. The NHS continence database uses scanners to extract metadata from the metadata of origin store. Scanners are the equipment, but the process of extraction used is the proprietary interface. In this process, the scanner collects the relevant metadata from a source system in a single-step scan and loads them into the repository. Usually, the metadata collected from the sources (i.e. continence clinics managed by GPs) is unsorted and contains numerous errors that need correction. The integration layer, therefore, intercepts this data before it reaches the repository, sorts it, corrects mistakes and filters out unnecessary data.
9.7 Manage Metadata Repositories (C)
This phase entails the implementation of administrative activities that control the metadata repository. Such activities include monitoring and responding to warnings, reports, and data logs. Management of metadata repositories entails routine activities such as performance tuning, job scheduling, data backup and data recovery. The meta-data repository also stores and disseminates the data to various parts of the organization. The end users such as the personnel can filter information that is relevant to their job descriptions without having to sort through large volumes of data manually. However, the most important control activity is education and training of the database users.
9.8 Distribute and Deliver Meta-data (O)
The metadata delivery layer in the continence database transmits metadata from the repository to end-users or applications. End users include the NHS business users and technical users. Delivery mechanism may take the form of intranet websites for general practitioners, NHS administrators, patients and database managers. Other mechanisms include reports, messaging, business intelligence tools and applications.
9.9 Query, Report and Analyze Meta-data (O)
The NHS continence services database receives queries from different sources, analyzes them against the metadata of the patients’ health records stored in the repository as per the criteria of the query. It then generates responses in the form of online reports and feedback messages that can be accessed by end users. For instance, upon receiving referral applications from patients, general practitioners send queries to the central repository, which then generates a response as per the criteria set by the professionals. Based on the query report, the practitioners decide whether a patient is eligible for a specialist referral or not.
8.1.5 Audit Document / Record Management (C)
The NHS continence database will require periodic auditing for its metadata repository. The process entails defining the records management custodians and benchmarks, assessment of the actual performance of the database system, and developing mechanisms to correct any inefficiency in the management of metadata.
8.2.1 Define and Maintain Enterprise Taxonomies (P)
Taxonomy is a content management initiative in the continence database. It defines the hierarchical structure of the substance of the database and their relationships with each other (Hedden 2010). The continence database taxonomy describes the vocabularies (e.g. thesaurus and term lists). Each metadata field contains a controlled vocabulary. However, metadata fields such as first or last name of patients, numeric fields, and date fields are exceptions because their descriptive metadata can contain numerous characters.
8.2.2 Document / Index Information Content Meta-data (D)
The referral search appliance tool on the NHS website uses two types of metadata: the internal and external metadata. The internal metadata refers to data stored directly within a primary document such as an HTML document. When activated, the search tool indexes both the document required by the end user and the metadata stored directly in that document. Internal metadata exists in the numerous HTML documents located on the NHS Live Well web page that provide individual with extensive information about continence and how to manage it. On the other hand, external metadata is not stored in a primary document. For instance, the “NICE guidance on bowel continence” on the web page takes one to an external website located on a database outside the continence repository.
EVALUATION

Reference List

Health and Social Care Information Centre, n.d., Summary Care Record guidance for GP practices, Health and Social Care Information Centre, [Online] Available at: http://systems.hscic.gov.uk/scr/gppractices [Accessed 6 March].
Hedden, H., 2010. Taxonomies and controlled vocabularies best practices for metadata, [Online] Available at: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/dam/journal/v6/n5/full/dam201029a.html [Accessed 6 March 2015].
Higgins, S., 2007. What are Metadata Standards? [Online] Available at: http://www.dcc.ac.uk/resources/briefing-papers/standards-watch-papers/what-are-metadata-standards [Accessed 6 March 2015].
National Health Service (NHS), 2015. Incontinence help - Live Well, NHS Choices, [Online] Available at: http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/incontinence/Pages/Gettinghelp.aspx [Accessed 6 March].
Viola, A. and Mookencherry, S., 2012. Metadata and Meaningful Use, [Online] Available at: <http://library.ahima.org/xpedio/groups/public/documents/ahima/bok1_049357.hcsp?dDocName=bok1_049357>. [Accessed 6 March].