Master Data Management (MDM) is a set of software solutions and special tools for presenting heterogeneous information in a single form. Integrating the product into the customer’s infrastructure increases the efficiency of business processes, structures information and prepares the company for the transition to SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture).
One example of the implementation of an MDM system is industrial production. Factories receive information about supplied parts from different information systems (IS) depending on the number of suppliers.
Accordingly, the data is sent in different formats. Connecting an MDM system to the current infrastructure combines information, removing unnecessary columns and columns. As a result, the factory stores data that is standardized and does not contain duplicate records.
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Advantages
By installing a master data management system, the client receives a unified product that eliminates the difficulties of working with different IS.
Benefits after integrating the solution into the client’s infrastructure:
- Deleting or merging duplicate records in the database.
- Regular updating of data.
- Adding additional information. MDM collects data from various sources.
- A structured hierarchy of stored information.
- Identification of new elements at the global level.
- Standardization of records in the database.
- Editing in the MDM system affects all IP within the company. The information is updated within one minute.
- The customer structures the data and gets a working infrastructure in which all the information is correct. In the terminology of MDM systems, such information is called a “golden record”, i.e. a unique and only correct option. To get a record, you need to configure the software so that it has access to all sources of information that are available in the company.
The complexity of the initial installation
Most of the processes inside MDM are configured automatically to free up administrators’ working time for other tasks.
The initial setup usually takes a long time, since it is necessary to identify the data sources from which information is collected, as well as specify the correct path to them.
The second important point is to set priorities for the data. The administrator determines the most important data area for the software and reduces the priority level step by step.
The last point is the configuration of automation processes. Different data sources are linked and grouped together. Templates and processing rules are set for them.
Examples of programs
The most famous products:
- IBM InfoSphere MDM;
- Oracle MDM;
- SAP NW MDM.