ESO Archive data and metadata model

We present the data model utilised in maintaining the lifecycle of astronomical frames in the ESO Archive activities. The principal concept is that complete file metadata are managed separately from the data and merged only upon delivery of the data to the end user. This concept is now applied to all ESO Archive assets: raw observation frames originated in ESO telescopes in all Chilean sites, reduced frames generated intra-ESO using pipeline processing, as well as the processed data generated by the PIs and delivered to the ESO Archive through "Phase 3" infrastructure. We present the implementation details of the model and discuss future applications.