Master Data Management

Master data management (MDM) involves creating a single master record for each person, place, or thing in a business, from across internal and external data sources and applications. This information has been de-duplicated, reconciled and enriched, becoming a consistent, reliable source. Once created, this master data serves as a trusted view of business-critical data that can be managed and shared across the business to promote accurate reporting, reduce data errors, remove redundancy, and help workers make better-informed business decisions.

A master data management tool can be used to support master data management by removing duplicates, standardizing data (mass maintaining) and incorporating rules to eliminate incorrect data from entering the system in order to create an authoritative source of master data. Master data are the products, accounts and parties for which the business transactions are completed.

Benefits Of Master Data Management:

By providing one point of reference for critical business information, MDM eliminates costly redundancies that occur when organizations rely upon multiple, conflicting sources of information. Common business initiatives addressed by MDM include Customer Experience, Governance and compliance, Operational efficiency, Supplier Optimization, Product Experience.

Master data governance is the application of data governance factors to a subset of data called master data. The factors of data governance are about documenting definitions, sources, processes, policies, rules, metrics, and people to improve the management of data. Master Data Governance factors are Master Data Definition, Master Data Policies, Master Date rules, Master Data Catalog, Master Data Lineage, Master Data Stakeholders, Master Data, Workflow, Master Data Metrics.

Master Data Management in Supply Chain:

Master data is the business-critical data about parties, places, and things. In the supply chain management (SCM), parties typically pertain to suppliers, manufacturers, warehouse managers, retailers, distributors, customers, etc, places are all the locations where assets are stored including warehouses and stores, and things range from products, raw materials, domains, vehicles & vessels, assets, etc.

Master data is used throughout the organization under commonly agreed structures and is managed through enterprise-wide governance. It is not transactional in nature, does not change frequently, and is not specific to any geographic location, supply chain process, unit, or system.