Master data is a data category held by an organisation which describes objects that it needs to reference in order to perform its transactions.

Master data is data about the business entities (e.g., employees, customers, products, financial structures, assets, and locations) that provide context for busi-ness transactions and analysis. An entity is a real world object (person, organiza-tion, place, or thing). Entities are represented by entity instances, in the form of data / records.

The data that provides the context for business activity data in the form of common and abstract concepts that relate to the activity. It includes the details (definitions and identifiers) of internal and external objects involved in business transactions, such as customers, products, employees, vendors, and controlled domains (code values).

• DAMA NL (2020). Data concepts for Data Quality Dimensions (DSC). Research paper. https://www.dama-nl.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DCS-Data-Concept-System-DDQ-Research-Paper-version-1.2-d.d.-3-Sept-2020.pdf
• Earley, S. (2011). The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management (DDDM). Technics Publications, LLC, New Jersey.