Reference data
Reference Data is the lists of valid values behind the attributes of key business entities in Operational Systems.
So what is Reference Data?
Reference Data is the lists of valid values behind the attributes of key business entities in an Operational System. For example the allowable country codes on a customer address (e.g. AU) is reference data. Operational systems will generally maintain lists of reference data.
Reference Data is often confused with Master Data which is concerned with maintaining a canonical version of key business entities (e.g. Customer, Product etc.). Reference data is related but different to Master Data. Reference Data is also different to Reference Data Management. Reference Data Management (RDM) encompasses the maintenance of reference data lists, but it's more than that, and comes into its own in the spaces between operational systems (i.e. data integration, data migration and data warehouses). RDM is concerned with the mapping, categorization, hierarchies etc. that augment and map key business entities across systems.
Reference Data Management in many organizations is sporadically implemented as 100s of spreadsheets, csv files, and hard coded rules. A better option is a dedicated Reference Data Management system like TitanRDM.
Learn more
Deep dive into Reference data management (RDM). Learn about the challenges facing businesses, the typical uses cases, capabilities and collaboration requirements of a good RDM system, Governance and implementation options, and the future of AI and automation for RDM. Read the white paper: Reference Data Management - The Missing Layer in Enterprise Data Architecture.