I have been a lead consultant though these processes of MDM: source identification, data collection, data transformation, normalization, rule administration, error detection and correction, data consolidation, data storage, data distribution, and data governance. My clients have been in the Banking, Insurance and Energy industries.

A simple definition of MDM:

Master Data Management comprises a set of processes and tools that consistently defines and manages the non-transactional data entities of an organization (also called reference data).

Believe me there are some much larger, more “wordy” definitions floating around but I am keeping it simple.

Types of functions MDM tools (software) commonly support:

File systems, data networks data warehousing, data marts, operational data stores, data mining, data analysis, data federation and data visualization.

Prerequisites for MDM:

This initiative has to be mandated. Everyone knows they need it but few want to start it! You will need a good program leader to get you started but you should plan on taking the reins very soon.

Appoint data stewards and implement a data-governance program and data-governance council…see my data governance page.

Determine your sources of master data. Alert this process can create some political turmoil in some organizations. Diplomacy is a key but there has to be a deciding authority.

Determine who produces and who consumes the master data. Stewardship plays a role here.

Collect and analyze metadata about for your master data …tools!

Develop the master-data model.

Choose a toolset that will create the master lists by cleaning, transforming, and merging the source data. Note: An infrastructure is needed to use and maintain the master list.

  A good consultant will leave the client independent, not dependent.

Contact Information:

Email: steve@stevewilletts.com