There might be different formats to show a value; for example, a date can be shown as 5/23/2013 or it can be shown as 23rd of May 2013. Knowledge Base has the ability to standardize this format based on a predefined format string. This format string can be defined in the domain properties. There are different format strings for the String, Date, Integer, and Decimal data types.
A word or sentence might have some synonyms that have the same meaning in terms of business understanding but they just appear to be different. DQS has the ability to understand synonyms based on the knowledge that the data steward has provided. For example, MSFT and Microsoft are synonyms, so in this case it would be helpful if the data steward set these values as synonyms and chose one of these as the heading value (which means that this value will be used for standardization consistency).