Master data and article data form an important foundation for the daily business processes in industry and trade. But what exactly do these terms mean – and where lies the difference? Find out the answers in this article.
What Are Master Data and Article Data?
Whether in purchasing, sales, e-commerce, or logistics – hardly anything runs smoothly today without reliable data.
In this and the next three blog posts on article data, we would like to shed some light on the subject. We will explain the most important terms and show what challenges these present for industry and trade.
Let's start with the fundamental question: What is master data and what is article data?
Master Data – The Foundation of All Processes
Master data is the core information of a company that remains valid over a longer period of time and is only rarely changed. It forms the basis for numerous business processes and ensures that all parties involved work with the same information. The distinction between master data and article data is sometimes not entirely straightforward.
Typical examples include:
Article Data – Everything About the Product
Article data describes a specific article or product. It helps to clearly identify, manage, market, and ultimately sell products.
This includes, for example:
Article data also rarely changes. Nevertheless, adjustments may become necessary, for example when packaging changes, new product variants are added, or product information needs to be updated.
So what is the difference?
Simply put, article data is often considered part of master data. While master data encompasses all permanently relevant company information, article data refers exclusively to articles and products. Both types of data are crucial for functioning business processes. If the data is incomplete or incorrect, this can lead to problems in purchasing, sales, e-commerce, or logistics.
Preview
Now that we have clarified the basics, in our next post we will take a look at the challenges that industrial companies face when managing master data and article data.
Picture credits:
https://www.bigstockphoto.com/de/image-112394381/stock-foto-connected-group-concept
