Process Module:  Describe Entity

Definition: The processes used to obtain, create, modify, delete, or expose metadata for an entity.  Entities can include resources, collections, people, organizations, services, events, courses, facilities, finances, relationships, etc.  Entities can be electronic/digital or physical. Entities can be held/maintained locally or remotely.  Metadata will identify the entity, and can be descriptive, structural, technical, and/or administrative.  Metadata can be entered in real-time, via a batch process, or harvested from another repository.  Metadata may change over the entity’s life-cycle as additional information is gathered or the entity’s use, role, or purpose evolves.  Metadata will generally be encoded using XML and will generally conform to an identified metadata content standard.  The Describe Entity Process is independent of application end point, resource, data object, or underlying communications protocols and service models.

Workflow / Process Diagrams:

• Obtain Metadata
• Create Metadata
• Modify Metadata
• Delete Metadata
• Expose Metadata

Use Cases: Metadata-related activities can occur for any resource within a collection, at any point of interaction with the entity.  These may include:

• Identification and selection of a new resource into the repository either with or without existing metadata;
• Addition of harvested metadata in the repository;
• Activities or life-cycle changes involving an entity that require recording or modifying information about the entity (i.e. reformatting, conservation / preservation, additional holdings, expanded description, retention decisions, provenance information, removal of either metadata or an entity with associated metadata from the repository , etc.);
• Activities identified by other Process Use Cases that require creation of or changes to existing metadata.