In any organization, certain data is required across business areas, processes, and systems. The overall organization and its customers benefit if this data is shared and all business units can access the same customer lists, geographic location codes, business unit lists, delivery options, part lists, accounting cost center codes, governmental tax codes, and other data used to run the business. People using data generally assume a level of consistency exists across the organization, until they see disparate data.

In most organizations, systems and data evolve more organically than data management professionals would like. Particularly in large organizations, various projects and initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, and other business activities result in multiple systems executing essentially the same functions, isolated from each other. These conditions inevitably lead to inconsistencies in data structure and data values between systems. This variability increases costs and risks. Both can be reduced through the management of Master Data and Reference Data.