Data governance - Concept
Canonical data
The agreed standard version or format of data that other systems are expected to follow
What's it for?
Gives everyone one agreed version of important information to follow when different copies disagree.
For example…
Customer legal name is taken from the finance system as canonical data; marketing lists are updated from that, not the other way round
When CRM and billing disagree on a customer's legal name, the canonical record from master data is used to correct both
Think of it like…
The official spelling of a street name on the council map — other lists should copy it, not invent their own