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Core, shared business entities such as customers, products, and locations that provide context for transactions.
DESCRIPTION
Master data represents high-value, relatively stable entities that are shared across systems and processes. It enables consistent reporting, analytics, and operations by providing a single, governed view. Typical domains include party, product, location, and financial dimensions. Master Data Management (MDM) creates golden records, harmonizes identifiers, and enforces quality rules. Strong stewardship and governance are essential to maintain trust and interoperability.
ALTERNATIVE DEFINITIONS
Wikipedia
Master data represents the business objects that are agreed on and shared across the enterprise.
Highlights enterprise-wide agreement and sharing of core business objects.
IBM
Master data is the core data that is essential to operations in a specific business or business unit.
Emphasizes operational essentiality and business unit relevance.
SAP Help Portal
Master data is data that remains unchanged over a long period of time.
Focuses on relative stability of master data in ERP contexts.
RELATED TERMS
Master Data Management Single Source of Truth Data Quality Data Stewardship Data Discovery Platform Data Glossary System of Record Governance
COMPETING TERMS
Reference Data Transactional Data
RELATIONS
- Broader: Data
- Narrower: Company Master Data David Loshin’s Definition of Master Data Financial Master Data Legal Master Data Location Master Data Party Master Data Product Master Data Publish Reference and Master Data
KNOWLEDGE AREAS
Reference & Master Data Data Management Data Governance Data Modeling Data Architecture
TARGET AUDIENCE
Data Steward Data Architect Data Modeler Chief Data Officer Data Governance Manager Information Analyst
EXTERNAL SOURCES
- Wikipedia - Master data
- IBM - IBM overview of master data
- Informatica - MDM concept and practices
- SAP Help Portal - SAP ERP master data concept
TOP QUESTIONS
What is Master Data?
Master Data is core, shared business entities like customers, products, and locations that provide context and consistency across transactional systems.
Category: Definition
Why is Master Data critical?
It ensures consistency in reporting, analytics, and operations, reducing duplication and errors, and enabling a common vocabulary across the enterprise.
Category: Relevancy
How is Master Data governed?
Through stewardship, data quality rules, approval workflows, and MDM processes that establish golden records and manage lifecycle changes.
Category: Management
What distinguishes Master Data from Reference Data?
Master Data models entities; Reference Data standardizes valid values (codes, categories) used to classify or validate other data.
Category: Comparison
What are common mistakes in Master Data initiatives?
Ignoring data ownership, lacking change control, over-customizing models, and failing to align with business processes and identifiers.
Category: Mistakes
What risks exist with poor Master Data?
Duplicate records, inconsistent metrics, regulatory issues, and customer dissatisfaction due to fragmented views and incorrect information.
Category: Risk
How do you start with Master Data?
Define domains and owners, establish data standards, build stewardship processes, and pilot an MDM solution with clear quality metrics.
Category: HowTo
What is a golden record in Master Data?
A consolidated, authoritative representation of an entity created by matching, merging, and survivorship rules across sources.
Category: Definition
Which tools support Master Data?
MDM platforms from vendors like Informatica, SAP, IBM, and Oracle support modeling, match-merge, governance, and integration.
Category: Tools