A system and method for managing customer data is provided. The method for managing customer data includes assigning one or more roles with entities desiring access to customer data, the entities including at least one application. The method provides for determining a category associated with at least some of the customer data, determining an access level for each role based on the category associated with the at least some of the customer data, and restricting access by the application to a system maintaining the customer data based on whether the application is authorized to access the system.