In the often abstract realm of business data, ‘reference data’ plays a uniquely tangible role. A subset of non-transactional master data, reference data consists specifically of the substantial entities in the data equation – customers, products, assets, property. Reference data is, quite simply, the axis on which the rest of the data equation turns.
Given its key role, businesses would be well advised to pay close attention to the reference data in their records. Is it of sufficient quality and accuracy? If it is not, nothing else in the data equation will count for anything. The old, blunt maxim ‘garbage in, garbage out’ applies here.
A recent article by business intelligence expert Steve Bennett, on the Smart Data Collective website, had some pertinent points to make about reference data. In his post, Bennet proposed a detailed hierarchy of capabilities to order to better organise and enhance information governance in a corporate context. He proposed a total of 26 such categories, divided into eight categories or groups, namely Trust, Strategy, Secure, Develop, Act, Analyse, Organise and Operate.
Bennett sees reference data management as part of the first group, Trust, along with data quality management, data governance and master data management. As the name implies, the Trust category is all about the reliability of your facts and figures. It is the bedrock of the data equation.
He states, quite rightly we believe, that the efficient and accurate management of reference information hierarchies is a “critical business capability”. Why? Because it “delivers a consistent view of data across business units and the enterprise as a whole”.
Without a solid and reliable foundation, the most sophisticated data management process in the world will count for precisely nothing
For more information on the Evaxyx range of data management solutions, visit our website.
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