Master Data Management Cheat Sheet
posted by John Spacey, November 21, 2012Definition of Master Data
Master Data is the single source of information that's important to your business.
Master data is sometimes referred to as a Golden Copy. Critical business information such as customers, products, employees and partners is often considered master data.
A few points to keep in mind about master data:
Master data is often reference data (but not always).
Master data is often non-transaction. However, transactional data can also be treated as master data.
Master data supports key business processes and transactions.
Definition of Master Data Management (MDM)
Master Data Management (MDM) is the management of master data. This includes:
Governance and policies
Standards and best practices
Processes
Tools
The goal of master data management is to provide an accurate, correct, current, complete and relevant source of master data to support business processes and transactions.
Definition of Market Master Data
Market Master Data is a set of master data for an entire industry or market. For example, International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a unique numeric id for books developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Common Data Management Problems
Most organizations (large and small) struggle with data management issues. Data is commonly replicated across multiple silos where it isn't properly managed or maintained.
Common data management problems include:
Data is copied to large numbers of systems where it becomes stale.
No one in the organization can agree on the master source of data. For example, your sales manager insists that the CRM system should be the source of truth for customer data but your billing manager thinks it should be the billing system.
Data accuracy issues trigger failures of business processes and transactions.
Decision makers don't trust the data they use to make key decisions.
Value of Master Data Management
Master Data Management seeks to address data problems by providing a trusted copy of data for decision making and business processes. The benefits of MDM include:
Accurate, timely information improves decision making. Confidence in key metrics improves.
Improved process efficiency. Your business processes run on data. When that data is broken, so are your processes.
Improved customer satisfaction. For example, customers aren't happy when bad data causes transactional errors.
Reduction of information management costs. Organizations spend massive sums of money maintaining multiple copies of master data.
Common Master Data Management Pitfalls
There are several reasons that so many organizations struggle with Master Data Management issues:
1. Over-focus on MDM software
Organizations that buy a Master Data Management product hoping it will be a silver bullet to solve data management issues.
2. Lack of executive support
Data issues are often caused by internal politics. Technology silos replicate data and disagree on the structure and source of master data. Executives need to understand these issues and set a clear mandate.
3. Lack of policies and standards
Organizations must set clear policies on the production, management and consumption of data. Otherwise, MDM initiatives are doomed to fail.
3. Lack of governance
There's a tendency for technology silos to violate MDM policies. A diligent governance process is key to MDM success.
Technology Cheat Sheets Technology reference cards (executive overviews). |
Recently on Simplicable
Multifactor Authentication Explainedposted by Anna MarHow to confirm the identity of users and entities. |