
Chapter 1 Introducing Business Metadata
22
Figure 1.20 shows a simple corporate reference file.
The reference files are a form of business metadata because the abbreviations
are aliases and at times they are abstractions (or codes) of something else.
Today, reference files are considered part of an overall discipline area known
as Master Data Management (MDM). MDM concerns itself with managing the
Master Data: that data that runs the corporation, which is referenced all over
the enterprise, in multiple systems. The main areas of master data are Customer
and Product, but geography and corporate structure (Divisions, Branches, etc.)
are often also ...