A reference table (or table of reference) may mean a set of references that an author may have cited or gained inspiration from whilst writing an article, similar to a
bibliography
Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...
.
It can also mean an
information table that is used as a quick and easy reference for things that are difficult to remember such as comparing
imperial
Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism.
Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to:
Places
United States
* Imperial, California
* Imperial, Missouri
* Imperial, Nebraska
* Imperial, Pennsylvania
* Imperial, Texa ...
with
metric
Metric or metrical may refer to:
* Metric system, an internationally adopted decimal system of measurement
* An adjective indicating relation to measurement in general, or a noun describing a specific type of measurement
Mathematics
In mathema ...
measurements. This kind of data is known as
reference data
Reference data is data used to classify or categorize other data. Typically, they are static or slowly changing over time.
Examples of reference data include:
* Units of measurement
* Country codes
* Corporate codes
* Fixed conversion rates e.g. ...
.
In the context of
database design
Database design is the organization of data according to a database model. The designer determines what data must be stored and how the data elements interrelate. With this information, they can begin to fit the data to the database model.Teorey, ...
a reference table is a table into which an
enumerated set of possible values of a certain field data type is divested. It is also called a domain table because it represents the
domain
Domain may refer to:
Mathematics
*Domain of a function, the set of input values for which the (total) function is defined
**Domain of definition of a partial function
**Natural domain of a partial function
**Domain of holomorphy of a function
* Do ...
for the columns that reference it. For example, in a
relational database model
The relational model (RM) is an approach to managing data using a structure and language consistent with first-order predicate logic, first described in 1969 by English computer scientist Edgar F. Codd, where all data is represented in terms of tu ...
of a warehouse the entity 'Item' may have a field called 'status' with a predefined set of values such as 'sold', 'reserved', 'out of stock'. In a purely designed database these values would be divested into an extra entity or Reference Table called 'status' in order to achieve
database normalisation
Database normalization or database normalisation (see spelling differences) is the process of structuring a relational database in accordance with a series of so-called normal forms in order to reduce data redundancy and improve data integrity. ...
. The entity 'status' in this case has no true representative in the real world but rather would an exceptional case where the attribute of a certain database entity is divested into its own table. The advantage of doing this is that internal functionality and optional conditions within the database and the software which utilizes it are easier to modify and extend on that particular aspect. Establishing an enterprise-wide view of reference tables is called
master data management
Master data management (MDM) is a technology-enabled discipline in which business and information technology work together to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency and accountability of the enterprise's official shared ...
.
Data management
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