Nesstar Publisher can be used as a standalone tool for the preparation of data and metadata but can also be used to mount the enhanced dataset on a Nesstar Server. This allows the data and metadata to be searched, browsed, analysed, and downloaded via Nesstar WebView. Access to these resources by these means can be made free and universal, or can be limited to authorised individuals in accordance with the wishes of the data publisher.

The key feature of Nesstar Publisher is that it is a complete metadata authoring tool. Metadata is critical because data are only made accessible through their accompanying documentation. Without a description of their various elements, data resources will manifest themselves as more or less meaningless collections of numbers to the end user. The metadata provides the bridge between the producers of data and their users and conveys information that is essential for secondary analysis.

Nesstar Publisher is also DDI compliant. The DDI (Data Documentation Initiative) is a metadata standard used for documenting datasets developed in European and North American data archives, libraries and official statistics agencies. It is designed to be fully machine readable and machine processable. The DDI is now defined in XML which facilitates easy internet access but the advantage of Nesstar Publisher is that the user does not need to have any knowledge of XML to generate data documentation.

Since metadata authoring can be time consuming, Nesstar Publisher's use of the DDI makes the process simpler, more efficient, and more flexible. Within Nesstar Publisher the DDI structure (or a subset thereof) may be used to import information, integrate data and metadata, and customise the process of producing metadata within the overarching framework of the DDI itself. In this way, metadata can be produced according to established DDI templates, or can be customised according to the needs of individual users.

Ultimately, Nesstar Publisher can be used to publish data and the accompanying documentation to a catalogue on a Nesstar Server. From here these resources can be made available to the wider community via Nesstar WebView.