4 Responses to “Choosing Your First Master Data Domain”

1. 

   @Xenos_group
   

   Feb 08, 2012

   Great explanation of MDM and the product vs customer master data domain options.

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2. 

   John Owens
   

   Feb 10, 2012

   Hi Jim

   Great video.

   However, this approach to MDM puts me in mind of a story abourt a visitor to Ireland who is lost and goes into a local store to ask for directions. “Can you tell me how to get to Dublin from here?”, he asks. To which the storekeeper replies, “To tell you the truth, if I was going to Dublin I wouldn’t start from here!”

   And that is the problem with the current approach to MDM. Too many people are starting in the wrong place and as a result will never get to MDM!!!

   Where is the wrong place? Looking at existing data. This is SO wrong that it is like looking in the dumpster outside a restaurant for the ingredients to cook a gourmet meal!

   Where is the right place? Building a corporate logical data model (LDM). The LDM will define EXACTLY what all the master data entities should be and avoids the fragmentation caused by the current approach.

   For example, any enterprise starting with an LDM would never split Party into Supplier and Customer! Nor would it ever have product structures made up of concatenated free text fields as exist in so many badly structured databases.

   The LDM is the wiring diagram for MDM. Any enterprise trying to manage its Master Data Entities without it is going to waste a lot of time, energy and money and, in spite of this, never end up where they need to be.

   Some things are fundamental, like the keel of a ship, the main spar of an aircarft wing and LDM in MDM.

   Another thing about the LDM is that it totally simplifies this whole area. Instead of battling with the complexity of existing bad data, it brings clarity and power through simplicity. It completely removes the mystique.

   Ironically, that might be why people do not use!

   Regards
   John

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3. 

   Lucas Rose
   

   Feb 14, 2012

   Great effort for MDM product vs customer master data domain options. Might I point out that for many organizations those pesky, emotion-driven human stakeholders require an immediate demonstration/output of value for their MDM investment. Product Master Data for manufacturing, consumer and industrial products, food products, etc. typically offers the most complexity due all the components that ‘rollup into a product’: (bill of material, formulary/recipe, location, processing and assembly geography, packaging, logistics, regulatory compliance, vendors)- The time it takes to address the product data domain often makes it the least-favorable first domain, purely from a political, instant gratification perspective.

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4. 

   Jim Harris
   

   Feb 14, 2012

   @Xenos_group — Thanks

   @John — Data modeling is certainly an essential aspect of any data management effort, and especially when starting a new MDM program. Of course, the challenge is that the source systems providing master data were modeled a long time ago, and most, if not all, of those systems did not follow a rigorous data modeling methodology. Therefore, although the new MDM hub should follow your recommendation, that still leaves the challenge of mapping and integrating the source system master data into the MDM hub, as well as keeping updates synchronized, which, of course, also depends on your MDM hub architecture (i.e., registry, transactional, co-existence hybrid).

   @Lucas — Yes, stakeholders will need to see early ROI from their MDM investment, which is why I recommend starting an MDM program with a Location Master Data pilot project. I agree with you about the complexities inherent with Product Master Data, but for many organizations the complexities inherent with Customer (or more broadly Party) Master Data make it a toss up as to which one would be the least favorable first master data domain.

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