Principal Entity: A major business concept that represents one of the fundamental things an organisation deals with and that provides a stable anchor for its enterprise data model.

Principal Entities are identified at the Conceptual Data Model level and typically represent enduring concepts such as Stakeholder, Product, Asset, Agreement, Transaction or Location. They help establish the enterprise semantic map before detailed modelling proceeds through Subject Areas.

They are not simply important database tables. A Principal Entity should represent a concept with clear organisational meaning, agreed definition and governance significance.

Secondary Entities may then be introduced to clarify properties, roles, events, classifications, lifecycle states or relationships associated with the Principal Entity.

Principal Entities provide the semantic anchors of the enterprise model.

Related glossary items: \Conceptual Data Model, Common Data Model, Subject Area, Data Stewardship, Data Modelling.

• 📝 Conceptual Data Model
• 📝 Common Data Model
• 📝 Data Ownership
• 📝 Stewardship

For more detail see:

• Source Note: Common Data Models and Organisational Meaning
• Source Note — Kanban Architecture
• Subject Area — Human–AI Kanban Architecture