The Product Domain

Sep 13, 2011 by David Loshin

Product data is different than customer data. The main characteristics of product data are essentially descriptive – what the product is, what it is used for, engineering specifications, pricing, manufacturing, etc. When we perform analyses using product data we are either looking at that information from the production side (e.g., components/parts, time to manufacture), the inventory/logistics side (e.g., size, weight, shelf-life), or the consumption side (product categories, types of purchasers). But similar to the entities that act in the role of customers, there are core attributes associated with an “item” and attributes associated with item once it has been deemed a “product.” And in turn, an item may have characteristics that differ from the item used in the role of a product.

Programming Language Compilers and Product Data

Jun 07, 2011 by David Loshin

I love product data, especially because of its lexical and semantic complexity. The reason for this is an artifact of my original background as a software developer, and as a compiler designer in particular. To put this into perspective, it is worth providing a little of my own history and then we’ll see how that cycles back to product data…

Mastering Product Data

Jan 11, 2011 by David Loshin

Product data is quirky and different from party data. Product data sets and names contain descriptive information, yet they are also eminently parsable and can be mapped to a normalized form. This means that product data is also nicely suited to master data management. In essence, the idea is that a master product directory can be used as a standard index for parsed and standardized product names.

Product Data is Different

Jan 04, 2011 by David Loshin

In the previous post, we started to examine some characteristics of product data by looking at both the name data and the characteristics of types of items and their integration as part of the name.

Party Data and Product Data

Dec 21, 2010 by David Loshin

Ever walked around the screw department at your local hardware super mega-store? Isn’t it incredible how many types of metal fasteners there are? Wood screws, sheet metal screws, machine screws. Lag bolts, eye bolts, elevator bolts. Interestingly, there are lots of different names for the same things:

Video Blog: 3 Critical Steps to Improving Product Data Quality, Part 2

Dec 08, 2010 by Jim Harris

In the second installment of my four-part video series I discuss categorization, which is the first critical step to improving product data quality.

Watch the video here:

3 Critical Steps to Improving Product Data Quality, Part 2

Video Blog: 3 Critical Steps to Improving Product Data, Part I

Dec 01, 2010 by Jim Harris

In the second installment of my four-part video series I discuss categorization, which is the first critical step to improving product data quality.