Terms

System of Record

A system of record (SOR) is an information storage system that serves as the authoritative data source for a given data element. It is the primary repository where data is created, updated, and maintained, ensuring data integrity and validity across an organization. This single, definitive source is essential for reliable business processes, analytics, and regulatory compliance.

Importance in Business Operations

A system of record is vital for maintaining data integrity across an organization. Without it, conflicting information from different systems can lead to confusion and poor decision-making. A single, authoritative source ensures everyone works with accurate data, fostering trust and strategic alignment.

This consistency streamlines operations, reducing errors and the need for manual data reconciliation. It also provides a clear audit trail, which is essential for regulatory compliance and governance. Ultimately, a reliable SOR is the foundation for trustworthy analytics and scalable business processes.

Key Features and Characteristics

A system of record is defined by several core characteristics that ensure its reliability and effectiveness. These features establish it as the definitive source for specific data elements, maintaining data quality and operational consistency.

  • Authoritative: Serves as the single, trusted source for a specific data element.
  • Integrity: Ensures data is accurate, complete, and consistent across the organization.
  • Centralized: Provides a primary, consolidated location for data management and access.
  • Traceable: Maintains a clear audit trail for data changes and updates.

System of Record vs. System of Engagement

While both are crucial for modern data architecture, systems of record and systems of engagement serve fundamentally different purposes.

  • Record: A system of record is the authoritative source for critical data, prioritizing integrity, accuracy, and compliance. It acts as the official repository for information like financial or HR data. Enterprises and mid-market companies rely on SORs for stable, auditable data management, though they can be less flexible for user interaction.
  • Engagement: A system of engagement focuses on user interaction, collaboration, and experience, like a CRM or social platform. Its strength is in capturing the fluid, contextual interactions that SORs miss. These systems are preferred for sales and marketing functions, but their data often needs reconciliation with a system of record.

Common Use Cases

Systems of record are foundational across various business departments, ensuring that core data remains consistent and reliable. They serve as the definitive source for critical information, preventing discrepancies and supporting key operational functions.

  • HR: Manages all official employee data, including personal information, payroll, and benefits.
  • Finance: Houses the general ledger, tracking all financial transactions for accounting and reporting.
  • CRM: Acts as the authoritative database for customer information, sales activities, and service history.

Challenges and Considerations

Implementing a system of record presents several key challenges that require careful planning.

  • Integration: Data is often fragmented across systems, leading to inconsistencies when combined.
  • Scalability: A single SOR may not serve the diverse needs of a dynamic organization.
  • Governance: Maintaining data integrity requires strong oversight and clear rules for data management.

Frequently Asked Questions about System of Record

Can an organization have more than one system of record?

Yes, organizations often have multiple systems of record, each serving as the authoritative source for a specific data domain. For example, an HR system for employee data and a CRM for customer data.

How is a system of record different from a data warehouse?

A system of record manages real-time, transactional data for daily operations. In contrast, a data warehouse stores historical, aggregated data from multiple sources, optimized for business intelligence and analytics rather than transactions.

What role does a system of record play in data governance?

An SOR is central to data governance. It enforces data standards, ensures data quality, and provides a clear, auditable trail for all data changes, which is essential for compliance and maintaining data integrity.

Other terms

Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
00 items

Customer Acquisition Cost

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is the total cost a business spends to gain a new customer. It includes all sales and marketing expenses.

Customer Acquisition Cost

Sales Partnerships

Sales partnerships are strategic alliances where two companies co-sell products to expand their reach, generate new leads, and increase revenue.

Sales Partnerships

Customer Relationship Marketing

Customer relationship marketing is a strategy for building lasting connections with customers to foster long-term loyalty and engagement.

Customer Relationship Marketing

Rollback Procedures

Rollback procedures are a set of steps to restore a system to a previous, stable version after a failed update, ensuring minimal disruption.

Rollback Procedures

Mid-Market

Mid-market companies are businesses larger than small businesses but smaller than large enterprises, often defined by revenue or employee size.

Mid-Market

Account-Based Marketing Software

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) software helps teams coordinate personalized marketing and sales efforts to land high-value customer accounts.

Account-Based Marketing Software

End of Day

End of Day (EOD) refers to the close of business hours. It's a common deadline for tasks and reports to be completed before the workday ends.

End of Day

Feature Flags

Feature flags let you remotely control features in your app without new code. This enables safe testing, gradual rollouts, and quick rollbacks.

Feature Flags

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of assigning points to leads based on their attributes and actions to determine their sales-readiness.

Lead Scoring

Demand Generation

Demand generation is the process of creating awareness and interest in your products to build a pipeline of qualified leads for your sales team.

Demand Generation

Content Rights Management

Content Rights Management involves controlling the use and distribution of copyrighted digital media to protect intellectual property.

Content Rights Management

Behavioral Analytics

Learn about behavioral analytics, including implementing behavioral analytics successfully, & key metrics in behavioral analytics.

Behavioral Analytics

Digital Advertising

Digital advertising is the practice of delivering promotional content to users through various online and digital channels like social media or search engines.

Digital Advertising

B2B Intent Data

Learn about B2B intent data, including how B2B intent data enhances sales strategies, sources of B2B intent data, leveraging B2B intent data for competitiveness.

B2B Intent Data

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

A Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) is a prospect who has shown interest based on marketing efforts but isn't yet ready for a sales conversation.

Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL)

Value Statement

A value statement is a clear, concise declaration of the unique benefits a company provides to its customers, outlining its core purpose.

Value Statement

Sales Development

Sales development is the process of identifying and qualifying potential customers to create a pipeline of sales-ready leads for closers.

Sales Development

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Competitive intelligence (CI) is the ethical gathering and analysis of market data to inform strategic business decisions and gain an advantage.

Competitive Intelligence (CI)

Sales Objections

Sales objections are reasons or concerns raised by a potential customer as to why they are hesitant or unwilling to make a purchase.

Sales Objections

B2B Intent Data Providers

Learn about B2B intent data providers, including evaluating intent data quality, leveraging intent data for growth, & B2B intent data: key providers comparison.

B2B Intent Data Providers

Lead Generation Software

Lead generation software helps businesses automate finding and capturing potential customers' contact information to build sales pipelines.

Lead Generation Software

Website Visitor Tracking

Website visitor tracking collects and analyzes data on user behavior to understand their journey and improve the overall user experience.

Website Visitor Tracking

Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike audiences are groups of potential customers who share similar characteristics and behaviors with your existing, high-value customers.

Lookalike Audiences

Buyer Intent Data

Learn about buyer intent data, including sourcing and interpreting buyer intent data, & key metrics in buyer intent analysis.

Buyer Intent Data

Bottom of the Funnel

Learn about bottom of the funnel, including maximizing conversions at the funnel's end, & strategies for nurturing bottom-funnel leads.

Bottom of the Funnel

Cross-Selling

Cross-selling is a sales tactic of encouraging customers to purchase products or services that are related to what they're already buying.

Cross-Selling

Call for Proposal

A Call for Proposal (CFP) is a document that solicits proposals, often through a bidding process, for a specific project or service.

Call for Proposal

Persona Map

A persona map visually outlines a target customer, detailing their goals, behaviors, and pain points to help your team build genuine empathy.

Persona Map

Net New Business

Net new business is revenue from customers who have never purchased from your company before. It’s a crucial indicator of sustainable growth.

Net New Business

No Spam

“No Spam” is a commitment to sending only relevant, solicited messages. It means avoiding bulk, unwanted emails to respect the recipient's inbox.

No Spam

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

A Marketing Qualified Opportunity (MQO) is a lead vetted by marketing as a genuine sales opportunity, ready for direct sales follow-up.

Marketing Qualified Opportunity

Voice Broadcasting

Voice broadcasting is an automated system that delivers a pre-recorded voice message to a large list of phone numbers simultaneously.

Voice Broadcasting

Sales Workflows

Sales workflows are a set of automated actions that streamline the sales process, helping teams engage leads consistently and close deals faster.

Sales Workflows

Account Management

Account management is the post-sales practice of building and nurturing long-term relationships with a company's most valuable clients.

Account Management

Chatbots

Chatbots are AI-powered programs that simulate human conversation. They interact with users via text or voice, typically for customer support.

Chatbots

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is the set of marketing tools a company uses to sell products, defined by the 4Ps: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Marketing Mix

Sales Enablement

Sales enablement provides sales teams with the necessary tools, content, and information to help them sell more effectively and efficiently.

Sales Enablement

Event Marketing

Event marketing is a strategy where brands engage directly with target audiences through live events like trade shows, conferences, or webinars.

Event Marketing

Sales Territory

A sales territory is a specific group of customers or a geographic area that a salesperson or sales team is responsible for managing.

Sales Territory

Enterprise

An enterprise is a large-scale organization, often a corporation, defined by its complex structure and substantial number of employees.

Enterprise

HubSpot

HubSpot is a customer relationship management (CRM) platform with tools for marketing, sales, and service, all aimed at helping businesses grow.

HubSpot

Account-Based Everything

Account-Based Everything (ABE) is a strategy aligning sales, marketing, and success teams to focus on a specific set of high-value accounts.

Account-Based Everything

Email Verification

Email verification is the process of confirming that an email address is valid and deliverable, which helps improve campaign performance.

Email Verification

Lead Qualification Process

The lead qualification process is how you determine which prospects are most likely to become customers by evaluating them against specific criteria.

Lead Qualification Process

Lead Generation Funnel

A lead generation funnel is a systematic process that guides potential customers from initial awareness of your brand to becoming qualified leads.

Lead Generation Funnel

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

Net Revenue Retention (NRR) is the percentage of recurring revenue kept from existing customers, including upsells, downgrades, and churn.

Net Revenue Retention (NRR)

ABM Orchestration

ABM orchestration aligns marketing and sales actions across channels to deliver seamless, personalized experiences to high-value accounts.

ABM Orchestration

Persona-Based Marketing

Persona-based marketing uses fictional customer profiles, or personas, to create targeted messaging for specific audience segments.

Persona-Based Marketing

Warm Outreach

Warm outreach is contacting prospects with whom you have a pre-existing connection, like a mutual contact, making your message more personal and effective.

Warm Outreach

Sales Intelligence

Sales intelligence is technology that gathers and analyzes data to help salespeople find and understand prospects and existing clients.

Sales Intelligence

Intent-Based Leads

Intent-based leads are potential customers whose online actions—like searches or content engagement—signal a clear interest in buying a solution.

Intent-Based Leads

Marketing Play

A marketing play is a repeatable tactic used to achieve a specific marketing goal, like generating leads or driving engagement.

Marketing Play

Buying Criteria

Buying criteria are the specific requirements and standards a customer uses to evaluate products or services before making a decision.

Buying Criteria

Account Development Representative

An Account Development Representative (ADR) identifies and qualifies new business opportunities, creating a pipeline for account executives.

Account Development Representative

Sandboxes

A sandbox is an isolated testing environment where new or untrusted code can be run safely without affecting the host device or network.

Sandboxes

Event Tracking

Event tracking is the method of collecting data on specific user actions, or 'events,' on a website or app, such as clicks or downloads.

Event Tracking

Sales Automation

Sales automation uses software to streamline and automate repetitive, manual sales tasks, freeing up reps to focus on selling.

Sales Automation

Precision Targeting

Precision targeting is a marketing strategy that uses data to identify and reach a highly specific audience most likely to convert.

Precision Targeting

Buyer Intent

Learn about buyer intent, including understanding buyer intent signals, strategies to capture buyer intent, & buyer intent vs. customer interest.

Buyer Intent

Microservices

Microservices is an architecture where apps are built as a collection of small, independent services that communicate with each other over APIs.

Microservices

AI Data Enrichment

AI data enrichment uses artificial intelligence to automatically enhance and update raw data, making it more complete, accurate, and valuable.

AI Data Enrichment

Customer Relationship Management Systems

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is a tool that centralizes customer data to help manage interactions and nurture relationships.

Customer Relationship Management Systems

Buying Intent

Buying intent is the collection of online cues and behaviors that signal a prospect is actively researching and moving toward a purchase decision.

Buying Intent

Target Account List

A Target Account List (TAL) is a focused list of high-value companies that a business specifically aims to convert into customers.

Target Account List

Outbound Sales

Outbound sales is when reps proactively contact potential customers through cold calls or emails to generate leads and build a sales pipeline.

Outbound Sales

Hadoop

Hadoop is an open-source framework designed for the distributed storage and processing of extremely large data sets across clusters of computers.

Hadoop

Objection Handling in Sales

Objection handling in sales is the process of responding to a prospect's concerns about a product or service to move the deal forward.

Objection Handling in Sales

X-Sell

X-Sell, or cross-selling, is a sales strategy of selling additional, related products or services to an existing customer base.

X-Sell

Cold Emailing

Cold emailing is sending unsolicited emails to potential customers you haven't contacted before, aiming to start a business conversation.

Cold Emailing

Sales Calls

A sales call is a real-time conversation between a salesperson and a prospect, aiming to persuade them to purchase a product or service.

Sales Calls

Generic Keywords

Generic keywords are broad search terms that lack specific details like brand or location. They attract a wide audience with less specific intent.

Generic Keywords

Bounce Rate

Learn about bounce rate, including understanding bounce rate implications, key factors affecting bounce rate, & reducing your bounce rate effectively.

Bounce Rate

Sales Lead

A sales lead is a potential customer—an individual or organization that has shown interest in your company's products or services.

Sales Lead

Sales Metrics

Sales metrics are quantifiable data points that track and measure a sales team's performance against specific goals and objectives.

Sales Metrics

Intent Data

Intent data tracks a user's online behavior—like searches and site visits—to identify signals that they are ready to make a purchase.

Intent Data

Technographics

Technographics is data that outlines a company’s technology stack, helping B2B teams identify prospects based on the software and hardware they use.

Technographics

Inside Sales

Inside sales is a remote sales process where reps sell products or services via phone, email, and other digital tools instead of in person.

Inside Sales

Accounts Payable

Accounts Payable (AP) is the money a company owes its suppliers for goods or services bought on credit. It's listed as a current liability.

Accounts Payable

RESTful API

A RESTful API is a web service interface that uses HTTP requests to access and use data, adhering to the constraints of REST architecture.

RESTful API

User Interaction

User interaction is any action a user takes within a digital interface, like clicking a button, scrolling a page, or filling out a form.

User Interaction

Load Testing

Load testing is a type of performance testing that determines how a system behaves under both normal and anticipated peak load conditions.

Load Testing

Lead Generation

Lead generation is the process of identifying and cultivating potential customers for a business's products or services.

Lead Generation

Lead Routing

Lead routing is the automated process of distributing incoming leads to the right sales reps based on predefined criteria.

Lead Routing

Demand Generation Framework

A demand generation framework is a strategic process for creating awareness and interest in your product, ultimately driving new business.

Demand Generation Framework

Contact Data

Contact data is the set of details, like names, emails, and phone numbers, used to get in touch with a person or business for outreach.

Contact Data

Video Selling

Video selling uses personalized video messages to engage prospects, build rapport, and guide them through the sales funnel to close more deals.

Video Selling

Sales Enablement Content

Sales enablement content refers to the materials and tools that empower your sales team to engage prospects and close deals more efficiently.

Sales Enablement Content

Logo Retention

Logo retention is a key B2B metric that measures a company's ability to retain its customers, or 'logos,' over a specific period.

Logo Retention

Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is a short, memorable summary of what you do, designed to be delivered in the time it takes to ride an elevator.

Elevator Pitch

Buyer’s Remorse

Buyer’s remorse is the sense of regret or anxiety that can arise after making a purchase, often questioning if it was the right decision.

Buyer’s Remorse

Closed Opportunities

Closed opportunities are potential deals that have concluded. They are categorized as either 'closed-won' (a sale was made) or 'closed-lost'.

Closed Opportunities

Customer Buying Signals

Customer buying signals are the actions, behaviors, or statements a prospect makes that indicate they are moving towards a purchase decision.

Customer Buying Signals

Applicant Tracking System

An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is a software application that manages your entire hiring and recruitment process from a single dashboard.

Applicant Tracking System

Lead Enrichment

Lead enrichment adds third-party data to your raw lead lists, creating fuller prospect profiles for more effective and personalized outreach.

Lead Enrichment

GPCTBA/C&I

GPCTBA/C&I is a sales qualification framework for understanding a prospect's goals, plans, challenges, timeline, budget, and authority.

GPCTBA/C&I

Consumer

A consumer is an individual or entity that buys products or services for personal use, not for resale. They are the final user in a supply chain.

Consumer

Sales Intelligence Platform

A sales intelligence platform is software that provides sales teams with data and insights about prospects to help them sell more effectively.

Sales Intelligence Platform

Contact Discovery

Contact discovery is the process of finding accurate contact details for potential leads, including names, emails, phone numbers, and job titles.

Contact Discovery

Lead Enrichment Tools

Lead enrichment tools are platforms that automatically add missing data to your leads, like contact info, firmographics, and buying signals.

Lead Enrichment Tools

B2C2B

Learn about B2C2B, including how B2C2B transforms sales, key strategies for B2C2B success, & differences between B2C2B and B2B2C.

B2C2B