The purpose of the System/Data matrix is to depict the relationship between systems (i.e., application components) and the data entities that are accessed and updated by them.

Systems will create, read, update, and delete specific data entities that are associated with them. For example, a CRM application will create, read, update, and delete customer entity information.

The data entities in a package/packaged services environment can be classified as master data, reference data, transactional data, content data, and historical data. Applications that operate on the data entities include transactional applications, information management applications, and business warehouse applications.

The mapping of the Application Component-Data Entity relationship is an important step as it enables the following to take place:

• Assign access of data to specific applications in the organization
• Understand the degree of data duplication within different applications, and the scale of the data lifecycle
• Understand where the same data is updated by different applications
• Support the gap analysis and determine whether any of the applications are missing and as a result need to be created

The System/Data matrix is a two-dimensional table with Logical Application Component on one axis and Data Entity on the other axis.