Master Data Management

Create a single source of truth for critical business entities

9 min read

What is Master Data Management?

Master Data Management (MDM) is a comprehensive method of enabling an enterprise to link all of its critical data to one file, called a master file, that provides a common point of reference. MDM ensures that your organization has a single, accurate, and consistent view of critical business entities across all systems and departments.

MDM Domain vs Data Domain

Data Domain

A broad categorization of all data within the organization, including transactional data, analytical data, reference data, and master data. For example, a "Finance" data domain might include invoices, payments, journal entries, budgets, and account master data.

MDM Domain

A focused subset that contains only the master data entities - the core business objects that are shared across multiple systems and processes. Not every data domain requires MDM implementation.

Key Insight: Implementing MDM does not mean implementing governance for your entire data domain. MDM focuses specifically on the critical shared entities that need to be consistent across the enterprise.

MDM vs Data Quality

While often confused, MDM and Data Quality are complementary but distinct concepts:

AspectMaster Data ManagementData Quality
FocusCreating a single source of truth for master entitiesEnsuring data accuracy, completeness, and consistency
ScopeMaster data entities (Customer, Product, etc.)All types of data including transactional data
Primary GoalConsolidation and synchronization across systemsValidation, cleansing, and standardization
OutputGolden record for each master entityQuality scores, cleansed data, error reports

Data Quality is a prerequisite for successful MDM, but MDM goes beyond quality to address data ownership, stewardship, distribution, and lifecycle management of master entities.

MDM Implementation Dashboard

Total Sources

27

5 implemented

Total Records

6,776,759

6,692,578 implemented

Duplicated Records

310

Identified for merge

Curated Records

6,627,270

Golden records

DomainTotal SourceImplementedTotal RecordsImplemented RecordsDuplicatedCuratedProgress
RB Customer1556,681,9966,681,9963106,627,270
33%
WB Customer5-82,093---
0%
Product5-1,812---
0%
Sales Force1-10,58210,582--
0%
Branches1-276---
0%
Total2756,776,7596,692,5783106,627,270
19%

Master Data Domains

RB Customer

Customer IDNameAddressContact Info

WB Customer

Corporate IDCompany NameIndustryCredit Rating

Product

Product IDSKUDescriptionCategory

Sales Force

Sales Rep IDRoleTerritoryManager

Branches

Branch IDAddressRegionType