Metadata is data/information about data – data or information that itself describes other data. SCOPELAND is based on a “data-centric principle”. This philosophy is based on the assumption that everything can be derived from the data of a database, because the data is the core of every application. Everything else, application logic, data presentation, etc., is derived from the data. In all common database systems today, the stored data must be somehow linked, typified, classified and organized via certain definitions. The information about this is stored as rules and definitions in the database itself. This is exactly the kind of metadata that Scopeland uses to generate meaningful functions. Behind this is the realization that the same program functions are always implemented for these rules and definitions, regardless of the actual application. Scopeland ultimately assembles its applications from such ready-made program functions, so that no more programming is necessary, but only configuration.