Reference data are data describing a physical or virtual object and its properties. Reference data are usually described with nouns.

Reference data is used in data management to define characteristics of an identifier that are used within other data centric processes. For example - reference data within finance might be a product master or a security master.

Typical reference data are:

• Physical: products, material, assets, customers, locations
• Virtual: cost centers, planned buildings

Reference data can change over time via transactions (described in transaction data

Transaction data

Transaction data are data describing an event and is usually described with verbs. Transaction data always has a time dimension, a numerical value and refers to one or more objects Transaction data are data describing an event (the change as a result of a transaction) and is usually described with...

). E.g. a logistical transaction can change the location of an object, a financial transaction like adding tax can change the price of an object and a series of work transaction can change a virtual object like a planned building into a physical object.

Master reference data

A special type of reference data is master reference data - these are reference data shared over a number of systems. Some master reference data are universal (like the list of Countries

Country

A country is a region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with a previously...

) and can be covered by a global standard (in this case ISO 3166-1

ISO 3166-1

ISO 3166-1 is part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , and defines codes for the names of countries, dependent territories, and special areas of geographical interest. The official name of the standard is Codes for the representation of names...

).

Master data and Master reference data

Master reference data are sometimes called "Master Data

Master data

Master data, which may include reference data, is information that is key to the operation of business and is the primary focus of the Information Technology discipline of Master Data Management . This key business information may include data about customers, products, employees, materials,...

". This usage of the term Master data should be avoided, since Master data is also the term used for original data, like an original recording (see also: Master Tape).

Master data is collected on a Data Management Platform. The platform enables the acquisition, management and distribution of vendor and internally sourced Reference Data.

See also

• Data modeling
  Data modeling
  Data modeling in software engineering is the process of creating a data model for an information system by applying formal data modeling techniques.- Overview :...
  
  
• Master Data Management
  Master Data Management
  In computing, master data management comprises a set of processes and tools that consistently defines and manages the non-transactional data entities of an organization...
  
  
• Enterprise bookmarking
  Enterprise bookmarking
  Enterprise bookmarking is a method for Enterprise 2.0 users to tag, organize, store, and search bookmarks of both web pages on the Internet and data resources stored in a distributed database or fileserver...
  
  
• Data architecture
  Data architecture
  Data Architecture in enterprise architecture is the design of data for use in defining the target state and the subsequent planning needed to achieve the target state...
  
  
• Transaction data
  Transaction data
  Transaction data are data describing an event and is usually described with verbs. Transaction data always has a time dimension, a numerical value and refers to one or more objects Transaction data are data describing an event (the change as a result of a transaction) and is usually described with...