Okay, so I am helping out the PPDM load data into the new version; 3.8 with some Teapot Dome data. And it's going well. We are starting to use the PPDM to feed itself and that's always a good thing. But what I am having problems with is working or talking about this third type of data. Let me explain.
We all know about reference data. That's data that we use for lookups, like country, province, test type, etc. That's the first type. We know about the second type; subject area data. This is data that is pertinent about only the subject . Wells, Land, Seismic, etc. But what about the 3rd type? Data that displays characteristics of both reference and subject data? Take Business Associate as an example. It has information about BA's. Quite detailed data in-fact. So it's subject data right? But wait, it's used as a reference or lookup in just about every other subject data set, so it's reference as well.
So, you can see the quandary. Which type is it? What is it? Other examples include field, coordinate system, UOM, etc. I believe the PPDM calls this data 'support' data and that's okay. However, I would like to propose a new name for it; organizational data. The definition of organizational data is that it supports the organization by being used in many different applications/departments because they
all have a need for a single common data set. Maybe 'common data' might be a better term. As I think about common vs organizational; I think that I like the impression of what 'organizational' gives vs what common says. Maybe that's just me, but I do want to find a good term for this 3rd type and start to use/explain/preach about it.
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