Parent-child relationship

What is a parent-child relationship?

In master data management, a parent-child relationship connects two entities in a hierarchy: a “child” record, such as a subsidiary, branch, or division, and the “parent” record that owns or controls it. These relationships can span multiple levels, from a local branch up through regional divisions to a global ultimate parent, mirroring how a corporate family is legally and operationally structured.

For procurement and supplier data teams, mapping parent-child relationships across vendor records makes it possible to see the full corporate family behind a supplier, not just its individual legal entities. This supports consolidated spend analysis, unified risk and diversity reporting, and more accurate policies applied consistently across related vendor locations.