Microsoft is buying Stratature, a 16-person company in Alpharetta, Ga., Microsoft said through its public relations firm. No financial details were disclosed.

Stratature makes master data management (MDM) software. What is that?

"Most software systems have lists of data that are shared and used by several of the applications that make up the system," said this Microsoft explanation. "For example, a typical [enterprise resource planning] system as a minimum will have a Customer Master, an Item Master, and an Account Master. This master data is often one of the key assets of a company. It's not unusual for a company to be acquired primarily for access to its Customer Master data."

The management software allows companies to create, manage and maintain consistent and accurate lists of master data.

Microsoft has been working on software for this purpose. The company aims to get a product to market faster because of the acquisition.