Patent ID: 7496588

Claim:
A system for maintaining master reference data for entities, said system comprising: a plurality of data storages for storing a plurality of reference data sets, wherein each reference data set identifies a particular entity, wherein each of a plurality of entities has a plurality of reference data sets stored in a plurality of the data storages, wherein one of the data storages is a master reference data storage that stores a master reference data set for each of a plurality of entities, wherein the master reference data set for a particular entity represents the most reliable reference data set stored for the particular entity in any of the data storages; a master reference manager for receiving reference data sets in real time, modifying at least one master reference data set in real time based on a received reference data set, and maintaining content metadata for at least one master reference data set, wherein the master reference manager includes a trust framework for updating master reference data sets in real time, wherein a master reference data set includes a set of data fields, wherein updating the master reference data set includes changing a current value of a particular data field of the master reference data set when the master reference manager receives a reference data set that has a value for the particular data field that is more trustworthy than the current value of the particular data field.