SAP R/3 is a complex modern day ERP system. Most enterprise resource planning systems, classify data depending upon certain criteria. SAP R/3 for instance has three classes of data namely,

- Master Data
- Transaction Data
- Configuration Data

Lets discuss each of the classes of data in SAPR3 seperately.

1. Master data - Master data in SAP R/3 represents a business entity in an ERP system. In SAP, master data may consist of company code, plants, cost center, customer master accounts, vendor master accounts and so on. Master data in SAP consists of attributes, hierarchies and tables. Each of these unique characteristics can be part of the master data.

2. Transaction data - Any business event in SAP R/3 leads to transaction data being generated. SAP R/3 handles transaction data at the document level or at the summary level. Document level transaction data is detailed data and consists of headers, line items, and schedule lines. Summary transactional data is used in SAP R/3 for mostly reporting purposes.

3. Configuration Data - Configuration data in SAP R/3 deals with the application processing logic. Configuration data resides in the configuration tables in SAP R/3. Such configuration data is responsible for the way data is processed within the SAPERP system. An ERP like SAP is highly customizable. Configuration tables can be set to meet the business requirements exactly.

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