A master record contains a root record and multiple child records. In

Data Director

, the structure and display of the master records depends on the structure defined in either business entities or subject areas.

The root record contains the data that identifies the record. For example, the root record for John Smith contains data such as first name, last name, gender, and date of birth.

A child record contains data that is associated with a root record. For example, a child record for John Smith might contain addresses while another child record contains phone numbers. Child records can have their own child records.

Active records contain approved master data.

When you make a change to a record, the change might need to go through a review workflow before it can be approved as master data. While the record is pending approval, the record is called a

pending record

and you are restricted in the actions that you can perform on a pending record. When the change is approved, the record returns to the active record state.

Source records contain the data that MDM used to create the master records that you see in

Data Director

. Source records are stored in source systems throughout your organization.