diff --git a/app/src/Lib/Traits/TableMetaTrait.php b/app/src/Lib/Traits/TableMetaTrait.php
index f43e3cfce..0f8b42329 100644
--- a/app/src/Lib/Traits/TableMetaTrait.php
+++ b/app/src/Lib/Traits/TableMetaTrait.php
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@
 
 namespace App\Lib\Traits;
 
+use Cake\Utility\Inflector;
+
 trait TableMetaTrait {
   // Does this Table represent Registry objects or configuration?
   private $confTable = false;
@@ -54,4 +56,63 @@ public function getIsConfigurationTable() {
   public function setIsConfigurationTable(bool $confTable) {
     $this->confTable = $confTable;
   }
+
+
+  /**
+   * Filter metadata fields.
+   *
+   * @since  COmanage Registry v5.0.0
+   * @return array             An array of columns distinguished in metadata and non-metadata
+   */
+
+  protected function filterMetadataFields() {
+    // Get the list of columns
+    $coltype = $this->getSchema()->typeMap();
+    $entity = $this->getEntityClass();
+    $entity_namespace = explode('\\', $entity);
+    $modelName = end($entity_namespace);
+
+    // Get the list of belongs_to associations and construct an exclude array
+    $assc_keys = [];
+    foreach ($this->associations() as $assc) {
+      if($assc->type() === "manyToOne") {
+        $assc_keys[] = Inflector::underscore(Inflector::classify($assc->getClassName())) . "_id";
+      }
+    }
+    // Map the model (eg: Person) to the changelog key (person_id)
+    $mfk = Inflector::underscore($modelName) . "_id";
+
+
+    $meta_fields = [
+      ...$assc_keys,
+      $mfk,
+      'actor_identifier',
+      // 'provisioning_target_id',
+      'created', // todo: I might need to revisit this. We might want to filter according to date in some occassions. Like petitions
+      'deleted',
+      'id',
+      'modified',
+      'revision',
+      // 'source_ad_hoc_attribute_id',
+      // 'source_address_id',
+      // 'source_email_address_id',
+      // 'source_identifier_id',
+      // 'source_name_id',
+      // 'source_external_identity_id',
+      // 'source_telephone_number_id',
+    ];
+
+    $newa = array();
+    foreach($coltype as $clmn => $type) {
+      if(in_array($clmn, $meta_fields,true)) {
+        // Move the value to metadata
+        $newa['meta'][$clmn] = $type;
+      } else {
+        // Just copy the value
+        $newa[$clmn] = $type;
+      }
+    }
+
+    return $newa ?? [];
+  }
 }