Reference data
Reference data is data describing a physical or virtual object and its properties. Reference data is usually described with nouns.
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). 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 - this is reference data shared over a number of systems. Some master reference data is so universal (like the list of Countries) that it becomes a global standard (in this case ISO 3166-1).