What master data is
Lesson 1 of 24 6 min read
Master data is the set of records that every order, shipment and invoice refers to. Here is what counts as master data in Supply Lens, and why it has to be right before anything else can be.
Every order your business receives names something being bought, in some quantity, by someone, to be delivered somewhere. Supply Lens can only move that order between your systems correctly if it knows what each of those things is. The records that answer those questions are your master data.
In this lesson you will learn the four kinds of master data in Supply Lens, how they differ from the Documents that flow through it, and why a gap in master data is the most common reason a Document stops.
Two kinds of data
It helps to split everything in Supply Lens into two groups.
| Master data | Documents | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Records you set up once and reuse | Records of individual business transactions |
| Examples | A Product, a Party, a Location, a Unit of Measure | An order, a shipment, an invoice, a stock update |
| How often it changes | Occasionally: a new product launch, a new customer | Constantly: every order is a new Document |
| Who creates it | You, or an import, or a sync from another system | Your Integrations, as data arrives |
A Document refers to master data. An order line says "6 of GTIN 05012345678900"; the Product record is what tells Supply Lens that GTIN means a case of your House Blend coffee.
The four kinds of master data
| Products | The things you sell or buy. A Product carries the codes each system and partner uses for it (its identifiers), plus defaults such as its unit of measure, tax code, price and the Location it ships from. |
|---|---|
| Units of Measure | The units a quantity is counted in: each, bag, case, pallet, kilogram. Conversions on a Product say how they relate, for example 1 case = 6 bags. |
| Parties | The businesses you exchange data with: customers, suppliers, wholesalers, 3PLs. Your own business is a Party too, called the organisation party. |
| Locations | Physical places: your warehouses, your 3PL's sites, a retailer's depots and stores. A Location carries the codes each system uses for that place. |
Why master data has to come first
When a Document arrives, Supply Lens tries to match every product code, unit, party and location on it to one of your records. This matching step is called cross-referencing, and you will look at it properly in the next lesson.
If a match succeeds, the Document flows on to its destination with the right details. If a match fails, Supply Lens does not guess. It stops the Document and records an error so someone can fix the gap. That is deliberate: a wrong product or a wrong quantity sent into your ERP is far more expensive to unpick than a Document that waits for a minute's fix.
So the quality of your master data decides how often your team has to step in. Good master data means Documents flow without anyone touching them.
Hilltop Coffee grows up
You met Hilltop Coffee in Foundations: a roaster selling single bags through Shopify and managing stock and sales orders in Unleashed. Two changes are coming:
- Stock is moving out of the roastery into a 3PL warehouse, Brookside Fulfilment.
- Hilltop has won its first wholesale account, Greenleaf Wholesale, which will order cases of six bags by EDI, quoting barcodes and its own codes rather than Hilltop's SKUs.
Priya, Hilltop's operations lead, realises that every one of these changes is a master data question. Which Product is Greenleaf's barcode? Is "3" three bags or three cases? Which Party is Greenleaf, and which Location is Brookside? Over this course you will help Priya answer each one.
Where master data lives
You manage master data in the Reference data section of the Settings menu, alongside other lookup tables such as countries, currencies and tax codes. You can also search Products, Parties and Locations from the top bar: press / and type at least three characters of a name or code, such as a SKU or GLN.
You don't have to type it all in
Some master data can be brought in by an import or by an Integration that syncs records from another system. You will see the Product import later in this course. Whatever route you use, the ideas in this course are the same.
Recap
- Master data is set up once and reused; Documents are individual transactions that refer to it.
- Supply Lens has four kinds of master data: Products, Units of Measure, Parties and Locations.
- When a Document arrives, Supply Lens matches what it names against your master data.
- If a match fails, the Document stops with an error rather than sending something wrong.
- Good master data is what lets Documents flow without anyone stepping in.
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