Master data
The core lists an organization relies on across its systems, such as customers, products, suppliers, and locations.
Master data changes slowly and is referred to constantly. An error in it spreads into every transaction that points to the faulty record.
Where it comes up
- The same entity in two systemsOne person or organization exists in two systems under different identifiers, with nothing linking the records.
- Near-duplicate recordsTwo rows describe the same real thing but differ enough that an exact comparison misses them.
See also
- Golden recordThe single best version of a customer, product, or other entity, assembled from all the records that describe it.
- Reference dataThe agreed lists of permitted values that other data is classified by, such as country codes, currency codes, and order statuses.
- Source of truthThe one system or dataset agreed to hold the authoritative version of a piece of information. When copies disagree, it is the one that is taken to be right.