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Metadata is information about data, which sounds redundant, but for reporting systems is a very powerful tool. Metadata allows a designer to describe database fields, give them default formats, join tables in a meaningful way, calculate new values amongst other things.  This allows the dry, technical database structure that may only be understood by a few people to be transformed into an easy to understand business model that can reliably be used by many report designers.

• fields are named using business language
• meaningful table joins have already been created
• authorisation controls for critical data elements have already been applied
• meaningful formats for data values have already been applied