---
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
---
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.

**Example:** `LOAN_DTL.OUTSTANDING_BAL_AMT`, `DECIMAL(18,2)`, in schema `LND` on an Oracle database, loaded nightly by a batch job.

**Three scales**
- *Personal:* the folder, file name and format of your tax spreadsheet.
- *Business:* the columns in your accounting system's invoice table.
- *Enterprise:* millions of datasets harvested from hundreds of platforms.

**Not to be confused with** [[business-metadata]], which says what the data *means*.