Open data is data published by public institutions in a machine-processable form and under a licence allowing further use, including commercial use. For companies it has practical value: business and accounting registers make it possible to check a partner, the register of public sector partners reveals ownership background, statistical data helps with market research, and contract registers help with tracking public sector demand. When working with them, two things need attention. The first is the licence and its conditions, in particular the obligation to cite the source. The second is currency – registers are updated at different intervals, and working with an outdated version leads to incorrect conclusions. When combining several registers, a common problem is the same entities being recorded under differently written names.
See also: Register of Public Sector Partners (RPVS), Record matching, Data enrichment.
