Glossary

Master data

Also called: reference data

Shared reference entities consumed by multiple processes and systems, such as customer, supplier or product.

Shared reference entities consumed by multiple processes and systems, such as customer, supplier or product. Their quality and uniqueness condition the coherence of the entire operation, and so demand explicit governance.

They are the most duplicated because everyone needs them. Each system creates its own version of "supplier", and the reconciliation that follows is a permanent cost nobody budgeted for.

Related terms

Business entity

An object, actor, event or transaction the organization needs to know about, manage or evaluate, such as Customer, Request, Contract or Payment.

Data architecture

The definition of the data types and sources needed to support the business, expressed in a way stakeholders can understand.

Data owner

The role accountable for the definition, quality, use, integrity, security, lineage and evolution of a critical entity.

Semantic coherence

The condition in which every area uses the same concept with the same meaning. Its absence produces automations that work technically and fail commercially, as when customer, user and third…

Semantic control at the point of creation

The principle that reuse precedes creation: before creating an entity, one must check whether the concept already exists.