Metadata is the contextual information required to understand data. A data value is by itself meaningless without additional information about the data. Metadata is often described as data about data. Metadata is structured information that describes, explains, or otherwise makes it easier to retrieve, use, or manage data. For example, the number “23” is meaningless without metadata, such as an indication of the unit “mg.” Among other things, metadata for a particular piece of data could include a date/time stamp documenting when the data were acquired, a user ID of the person who conducted the test or analysis that generated the data, the instrument ID used to acquire the data, material status data, the material identification number, and audit trails.

元数据是了解数据所需的上下文信息。没有关于数据的附加信息，数据值本身是没有意义的。元数据通常被描述为有关数据的数据。元数据是描述、解释或以其它方式更容易地获取、使用或管理数据的结构化信息。例如，数字“23”在没有元数据的情况下，如单位“mg”，是毫无意义的。此外，一条特定数据的元数据可以包括记录数据获取时间的日期/时间戳、执行产生数据的检验或分析人员的用户ID、用于采集数据的仪器ID、物料状态数据、物料标识编码和审计跟踪等。

Data should be maintained throughout the record’s retention period with all associated metadata required to reconstruct the CGMP activity (e.g., §§ 211.188 and 211.194). The relationships between data and their metadata should be preserved in a secure and traceable manner.

数据应在整个记录的保存期内保持，并包含重建CGMP活动（例如，§§ 211.188 and211.194）所需的所有相关元数据。数据及其元数据之间的关系应以安全和可追踪的方式加以保存。