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The Meta Data Model – Part 4

Published: July 22, 2004

This is the fourth and final article on the meta data model. It contains the Security Environment within the meta data model.

We presented in Part 1 of this Meta Data Model the Logical Subject and Business Area Environment.  In Part 2 of this model, we addressed the Data Quality Environment. In Part 3 of this model, we addressed the Program Environment (See recently published articles below).  In the final part of this model, we will address the Security Environment.  This part of the meta data model contains information on the security of the model and its usage.  Security can be enforced through the database products, through the business intelligence tools, custom application code, or any combination of these.  The meta data within this subject area is needed regardless of the approach. 

The six entities in the subject area are: 

• User – The user is the identified individual who accesses the business intelligence environment through the business intelligence tool or an application. 
• Security Role – Security Role is a grouping of similar permissions for access to the data.  A role may group individuals based on their membership in a department, in a job function, or in a layer (e.g., first level supervisor) in the organization.
• User View – User View is the information about a particular view of the data.  The view may be of a partial table, a full table, or a set of jointed tables.
• Security User View – Security User View is the set of user views that a particular user, as a member of a security group, has.
• Table Security – Table Security is the access authority granted to a specific table for a specific security role.  (It is an associative entity between Structure, which is in another subject area, and Security Role.)
• Table Access Pattern – Table Access Pattern is information about the actual access to a table.  It is an attributive entity of Structure, which is in another subject area.  An addition to the model could describe a relationship between user and table access pattern. 

A copy of this portion of the meta data model is included with this article.  This is additional information for your starter model.  As you apply it to your environment, you may need to include additional entities and attributes.  Also, to insure that people understand the content, be sure to provide the meta data for the meta data model in the form of definitions for each of the entities and attributes.

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In summary, take the best of our model and make it your own.  Use it to compare to the models presented by the vendors or to create your own robust meta data architecture. 

This is our final article on the meta data model (for now) and we hope you find this model useful for your future Business Intelligence initiatives.  If you have suggestions for improving the model, please send them to us.  Look for enhancements to the model, based on your feedback, in future issues.  For more information or questions, contact either Jonathan or Joyce at the e-mail addresses shown below.