---
title: "Best Practices: Custom Metadata"
url: "https://atlan.com/resources/custom-metadata-best-practices/"
description: "Best practices for enriching Atlan assets with custom metadata to improve searchability, integrate outputs from other tools, and support governance, with templates and examples."
---

> Atlan is hosting Context Conference, bringing together the leaders and builders at the frontier of giving AI the context it needs to understand their business. It runs online on October 28, 2026, from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM ET. Atlan co-founder Prukalpa Sankar opens and closes the day. Leaders from AstraZeneca, BNY and Verizon share why they invest in context and what they get from it. Registrants get early access to The AI Context Gap, a new study from MIT Technology Review Insights. Register: https://atlan.com/context-conference/

**Best Practices: Custom Metadata.** An Atlan resource page; its description follows under the page's own heading.

## About this guide

Best practices for enriching metadata in Atlan with custom metadata, so teams can add business-specific context beyond basic metadata (owners, descriptions, certifications) with custom fields that improve search, governance, and usability.

### What custom metadata is used for

- **Searchability:** more filter options.
- **End-user experience:** familiar terminology.
- **Integrating other tools' outputs**, such as data quality or orchestration platforms. Examples: source systems (Salesforce, Workday, Zendesk), data warehouse presence, ETL pipeline details like job links, run dates, and run status (page 5).
- **Governance:** tracking intellectual property rights (license type, provider) and levels of importance (Gold, Silver, Bronze) to distinguish asset quality and readiness (page 5).

### Templates and examples (pages 6-7)

Metadata groups designed for deployment details, observability metrics (completeness, consistency, validity, accuracy), regulatory requirements, and states like completion status. Each property should include a description explaining its purpose and can be applied selectively to relevant asset types.

The result: a metadata model that reflects the team's workflows and governance needs, with more discoverable, transparent, and trusted data assets for business and technical users.

## Related resources

- [Use Case Guide: Impact Analysis](https://atlan.com/resources/use-case-impact-analysis) (guide)
- [Translating User Stories to Metadata](https://atlan.com/blueprint-resource-user-stories-to-metadata) (guide)