Executive Summary

In a connected world, collaboration and sharing are key principals. In particular, the faster our networks are and the better our connectivity is, the more your organization will benefit from information sharing and operational collaboration. In turn, as we share more information among our partners, our connectedness is enhanced as well. It is not just systems that work better together, but the people managing those systems forge better working relationships, leading to more effective management of the business and ultimately, to competitive advantage.

However, the more we share information, the more we realize that years of distribution of computing power and business applications into vertical lines of business has led to “islands of information coherence.” Data architectures designed to support operational processes within each business application area require their own definitions, dictionaries, structures, etc., all defined from the aspect of that particular business application.

The result is that the enterprise is composed of multiple, sometimes disparate sets of data that are intended to represent the same, or similar, business concepts. Yet, to exploit that information for both operational and analytical processes, an organization must be able to clearly define those business concepts, identify the different ways that data sets represent those concepts, integrate that data, and then make it available across the organization. And this need has introduced a significant opportunity for organizational information integration, management and sharing.

In this white paper, we will discuss how these processes comprise a master data management (MDM) program. We will look at questions such as:

• What is master data management?
• What are the characteristics of “master data”?
• What are some architectural approaches to MDM?
• What are the organizational challenges of instituting an MDM program?
• How does data quality figure in?

This paper is the first in a series exploring the basics of master data management, the policies and procedures employed, and the tools and techniques used for a successful MDM program.