Master Data Management
Master Data Management
Master data, the critical reference data of an enterprise, is an elusive and difficult beast, resisting domestication by growing and changing constantly throughout the lifecycle of an enterprise. Businesses eternally struggle to keep customer databases, product catalogs, vendor rosters, and the like consistent, up to date, and accurate while they grow, acquire, merge, and retool to meet the needs of their clients and stay competitive in the market. Divisional silos, departmental “spreadmarts”, and application incompatibilities contribute to the tangled web of process and technical challenges obstructing the primary goal of making master data work for business.
Information at the Heart of Business
Master Data comprises the critical reference data of an enterprise, their customers, vendors, products, services, employees, etc. Master Data Management (MDM) is the discipline of making these critical information assets work effectively for the business with the policies and infrastructure to support the capture, integration and shared used of accurate, timely, consistent and complete master data.
Moving Forward with a Master Data Management Initiative
Ciberspring can help you assess your organization’s readiness for a MDM initiative to increase your efficiency.
DISCOVERY: MDM Readiness and Maturity Assessment – Short-term site visit to obtain a “snapshot” of your current Master Data Management position. This initial assessment measures your business from 12 relevant perspectives and allows the Ciberspring team to craft a strategic roadmap for MDM implementation that is both comprehensive and pragmatic.
ASSESSMENT/ROADMAP: More comprehensive analysis of your organization, enterprise architecture, operations and management practices as related to the use and need for Master Data. A plan is established for activities and resources that will result in a healthy steady state Master Data Management initiative.
IMPLEMENTATION: Ciberspring experts take the results of the roadmap and work with you to design, build, and launch your Master Data Management initiative.
SUPPORT: Ciberspring works with you to ensure that your Master Data Management initiative delivers value as expected, so team members can sustain high quality master data for the long term.
An MDM platform may be positioned to service both the operational and analytical needs of a business. Operationally, MDM works to synchronize master data in operational systems and achieve an acceptable level of data quality in those systems. Analytically, MDM can support business intelligence and data warehousing initiatives by providing consistent and trusted dimensions of analysis while improving quality and enriching master data providing more meaningful and more actionable information.
MDM at Work
MDM, like many IT initiatives, is critically dependent on strong business sponsorship and a happy marriage of people and business processes during the technical implementation.
Technically, MDM means systems share critical master data in a meaningful and timely way. An MDM hub may be deployed to store and service a variety of requests for master data creation and updates. A “System of Reference” hub views master data as continuously updated reference data. This architecture aggregates master data in a central repository that acts as a reference across the enterprise while leaving control of the data in the hands of the operational systems. Alternately, a “System of Record” MDM hub assumes record-keeping responsibilities for master data, becoming the point of entry, custodian, and the authoritative reference for master data.
Business processes complete the organization’s MDM capabilities by providing the governing process for the creation, maintenance, and use of master data. They define which systems are authoritative and what processes must be implemented and followed during the lifecycle of master data entities. These processes also define how master data quality is measured and improved.
Ciberspring Brings Expertise
Ciberspring has deep expertise in areas of MDM Program management, Services Oriented Architecture (SOA) development, Information Governance and solutions development and deployment that cover the industry’s leading MDM platforms, tools and best practices.
