The data model and data production procedures and dissemination

The conceptual metadata model must meet two main requirements: a. Support the needs for data storing of the metadata management system b. If the data model is implemented in a relational database it must be possible to be used by other applications. Thus, the conceptual metadata model will support the functionality of the whole research product life cycle. If we try to model the whole research procedure we need a conceptual model of the whole system. We must differentiate between the conceptual model of the system and the conceptual metadata model, because the term 'conceptual' is misleading. The metadata management system will automate specific parts of the conceptual model of the system. We distinguish metadata entities in five categories: * The first category consists of the entities that describe autonomous documents produced in the context of a study at study level documentation (i.e. documents that are produced in the context of a specific study, and can be also used independently of the study). We will call these entities documentation objects. * The second category consists of the entities that describe autonomous objects produced in the context of a study at variable level documentation. * The third category consists of the entities that describe objects that depend on another object and that cannot be disseminated autonomously. * The fourth category consists of the entities that describe administrational characteristics of specific documentation objects, or of the entire system. * The fifth category consists of the entities that describe objects that are produced and used in the context of a metadata management system and not in the context of a study: the study description, the dataset description, the questionnaire, the project description, the file descriptions and the references to publications. The entities in this category have some common administrational characteristics, which are expressed in the conceptual data model as 'subtypes' of a 'supertype', table which is called "Documentation objects". Some of those functions will be presented in detail