The model serves as the container for the classes in the model. It appears as a resource type in the metadata catalog when you add or load metadata. For example, AccessDB is the model name for the Access database example.

The classes represent the metadata objects that you want to add or load into the Metadata Manager warehouse. For example, AccessSchema is the root class for the Access database example. AccessTable and AccessView are the child classes of the AccessSchema class.

Determine the properties for each class and the relationships between the custom metadata classes and classes in packaged or universal models. For example, in the Access database example, the columns in the AccessTable schema have a relationship to source columns in an Oracle database.