---
title: Reference data
description: The catalogue, sizing tables, option menus, fluids and corrosion data every recommendation rests on.
sidebar:
  order: 8
---

The product and process knowledge every recommendation rests on. In FlowOS it
is versioned in Postgres — not restored over hand-edits at every restart.

The **shape of what Flowtech sells** is explained in:

- [Item Group Master](/business/features/item-groups) — the family and the variant axis
- [Item Master](/business/features/item-master) — a released size/code
- [Decodification](/business/features/decodification) — the menus that compose the model number
- [Product limitations](/business/features/product-limitations) — survive versus read

## What else it holds

| Reference set | What it is |
| --- | --- |
| **Fluid library** | Fluids and gases with density, phase, viscosity, conductivity, boiling and freezing points, and the names customers actually write |
| **Chemical resistance** | Per-fluid, per-material published bands (A–D) |
| **Measured corrosion rates** | Laboratory observations per fluid, alloy, concentration and temperature |
| **Saturated steam table** | Steam density against pressure — never "steam as water" |
| **HSN** | Statutory code and split GST rates, as the ERP holds them. Required on finished item codes |
| **T&C** | Reusable payment, delivery and warranty text selected per quotation |

## What the business gets

Naming a fluid brings its properties, so an enquiry that says only "caustic
soda" still scores. Trade names and process-stream terms are recognised.

A measured corrosion rate may **condemn** a material the chart cleared; it may
not **clear** one the chart calls severe, because thinning is blind to pitting
(R31). A severe band excludes only when the fluid is not mild overall (R30) —
water rates carbon steel badly on the chart and is still Flowtech's standard
build for its most common application.

Coverage is uneven. Where neither a band nor a rate exists, the option is
**unconfirmed**, not hidden (R23). Some entries are deliberately absent
(steam as a fluid row, milk of lime) rather than approximated — see
[Limitations](/business/limitations).

## Who maintains it

Catalogue maintainers, not the quotation screen. A new datasheet, a revised
limitations guide, or a product-list change publishes a new decodification
version and, where needed, new item codes. Sent quotations keep the version
they pinned.

Related: [Product suggestion](/business/features/product-suggestion).