The document provides an overview of Master Data Management (MDM) and its importance for organizations in ensuring data accuracy and consistency across various domains. It outlines essential elements and best practices for implementing MDM, emphasizing the need for a business-driven approach, data governance, and executive sponsorship. Companies are encouraged to see MDM as a long-term journey that requires persistence and a clear strategy to drive organizational change.

1. >
Hub
H b
Solution
Designs
D i
Best Practices in MDM
and Data Governance
May 21, 2010
Dan Power,
Hub Solution Designs Inc
Designs, Inc.
Copyright © 2010 by Hub Solution Designs, Inc.

2. > MDM = Change (and Change is Difficult)
Hub
Solution
Designs
“Never d bt th t a small group
“N doubt that ll
of thoughtful, committed people
can change th world. I d d
h the ld Indeed,
it is the only thing that ever
has.”
h ”
Margaret Mead
g
But, as M. Scott Peck’s book “The Road
Less T
L Traveled” b i
l d” begins, “Lif i diffi l ”
“Life is difficult.”
For many companies, it's not “if” they'll implement
y p y p
MDM, it's “when”. But how (and why) you do it is critical
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3. > What Is Master Data Management?
Hub
Solution
Designs
My d fi iti
M definition
• MDM is a set of disciplines,
processes and technologies
• for ensuring the accuracy,
completeness,
completeness timeliness and
consistency
• of multiple domains of enterprise
data - across applications, To succeed with
systems and databases, and
MDM,
MDM start with
• across multiple business
processes, functional areas,
data governance
organizations, geographies and
i ti hi d
channels
Page 3

4. > MDM 101 – Five Essential Elements
Hub
Solution
Designs
1. The
1 Th MDM H b it lf
Hub itself
There are three major types:
Registry Hub (stores only the identity
information and foreign keys required for
matching in the hub)
Persistent or Transactional Hub (stores
all of the critical data from each source
system into the central hub)
Coexistence or Hybrid Hub (uses a mix of
both styles)
Now it s common for vendors to have several different hubs
it’s
due to recent market consolidation (Oracle, IBM, Informatica)
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5. > MDM 101 – Five Essential Elements
Hub
Solution
Designs
2. Data integration or middleware
2 D t i t ti iddl
Important to be able to synchronize
data into and out of the hub
Doesn’t have to be real-time but
“near real-time” is becoming more
common
Whole point is to build a “Single
Source of Truth” for a given domain
Truth
or domains
Having out-of-date information in your hub – or not
synchronizing data quality improvements back to your
source systems – can defeat the whole purpose of your
MDM program
Page 5

6. > MDM 101 – Five Essential Elements
Hub
Solution
Designs
3. Data Quality
3 D t Q lit
Most companies quickly realize that
they re
they’re starting off with a much
lower level of data quality than
they expected
So a robust data quality tool can be
vital in standardizing and correcting
data,
data plus filling in some missing
information
A good data quality tool can make the difference between a
dd t lit t l k th diff b t
failed project and a successful project
Profile your data early and profile often! Include regular
profiling in your governance program …
Page 6

7. > MDM 101 – Five Essential Elements
Hub
Solution
Designs
4 E t lC t t
4. External Content
Having worked for D&B, I
constantly saw the value
of providing information
you don’t already have
It could be something as
straightforward as SIC
codes, or as complex as
corporate family trees and
credit ratings
When you “don’t know what you don t know”, working with
don t don’t know
an external content provider can be a big help
Page 7

8. > MDM 101 – Five Essential Elements
Hub
Solution
Designs
5.
5 Data Go ernance
Governance
This is actually the most important
Without the people & p
p p processes
around your hub, the technology will
(at best) be “a solution in search of a
problem
problem”
The business won’t accept the
solution unless they’re driving it, and
resolving diffi lt questions of
l i difficult ti f
ownership is going to take some type
of cross-functional group, with an
executive sponsor, business data
stewards, IT support, etc.
Bringing together all of these elements is hard enough – don’t
try to do it without a data governance organization
Page 8

9. > So Why Are Companies Doing MDM?
Hub
Solution
Designs
• T solve specific b i
To l ifi business
problems
• Compelling external events like
Basel II or HIPAA
• Overall competitive advantage
p g
globally
• Three classic “drivers”
– Increase revenues
– Reduce costs
– Improve compliance and
decision making
For a lot of companies, it’s not “if” they’ll do MDM and data
governance, it’s “when” & “how” & “in what order” Page 9

10. > Some Best Practices
Hub
Solution
Designs
“90% of the
game is half
mental.”
Yogi Berra
So what works and what doesn’t work in
the real world?
Page 10

11. > MDM Best Practice #1
Hub
Solution
Designs
• St t with th need, pain or
Start ith the d i
problem (not “the solution”)
– The “build it and they will come”
build come
approach really doesn’t work for
MDM
– Make sure MDM solves some
key business problems
– How to get funding: find the pain
points, and quantify the benefits
(and cost) of fixing them
In particular, look at the data-related components of other in-flight
p , p g
projects, then see how a centralized data hub can save money
Page 11

12. > MDM Best Practice #2
Hub
Solution
Designs
• A ti
Active, i
involved executive
l d ti
sponsorship
– This is true for many projects, but
projects
especially so for MDM
– To champion a change (towards
managing master data as a true
corporate asset) is going to
mean significant cultural
disruption
– In most companies, that type of
p , yp
change is best driven “top down”
Don t
Don’t try to start until this is in place – when the rubber meets
the road, you’ll need the “corner office” in your corner
Page 12

13. > MDM Best Practice #3
Hub
Solution
Designs
• E h i the organizational
Emphasize th i ti l
change management aspect
– Critical to the success of large
transformation projects like MDM
– Outside perspective can be very
helpful here
– Your company’s culture is
Courtesy: Michael Heiss
probably not conducive to data
quality or proactive master data
management (or you wouldn’t
need them)
MDM projects can be very political, so figure out how to do
organizational change management early, have a communications
strategy and then communicate, communicate, communicate!
Page 13

14. > MDM Best Practice #4
Hub
Solution
Designs
• Th business h t own MDM
The b i has to
and data governance
– As tempting as it is to start & finish
s te pt g t s sta t s
with the technology, it doesn’t work
– When MDM is driven by IT, the
business may not understand or buy
in (or even realize it’s there)
– It’s hard, but start by building interest
and demand (recruiting) in the
business
– Otherwise, the business won’t be
committed and getting f di will b
itt d d tti funding ill be
tough
MDM’s nature (an ongoing program, not a “once & done” project)
means that even if the initial project is funded, the business may
not pick it up in Year 2 & beyond – unless the business owns it
Page 14

15. > MDM Best Practice #5
Hub
Solution
Designs
• P t your b t project manager(s)
Put best j t ( )
and people on this
– Make sure you can’t be derailed by
can t
opponents pointing to avoidable
project management or organizational
issues
– Focus on controlling scope, getting the
requirements right, managing risks,
and communicating effectively & often
– You cannot afford to have this type of
project fail …
Focus on delivering value, on time and on budget, and you ll
you’ll
silence the critics and deliver the expected ROI
Page 15

16. > MDM Best Practice #6
Hub
Solution
Designs
• U a h li ti approach –
Use holistic h MDM Vision
people, process, technology
MDM Strategy
and information
MDM Metrics
– This may be the most important
best practice of all MDM MDM
Governance Organization
– Start with the people, politics &
culture, then move on to the data MDM Processes
governance and stewardship
MDM T h l
Technology Infrastructure
I f t t
processes, then the technology
A Business-Driven, Holistic Approach to MDM
Courtesy: Gartner
You’ll succeed if you recruit the right executives as sponsors;
invest the time to create a data governance team; design your
governance processes and then communicate how the MDM
processes,
initiative helped the company achieve its strategic objectives
Page 16

17. > MDM Best Practice #7
Hub
Solution
Designs
• Thi k of MDM as a l
Think f long
term program, not a short
term project
p j
– Define your “to be” state and
break the project up into a
se es o d sc ete, a ageab e
series of discrete, manageable
phases
– An architectural assessment
and a well defined strategy are
good early deliverables
– Spend some quality time
planning the initiative – the time
you invest will be repaid many
times over!
Plan for
Pl f an MDM “ “way of lif ” not a project th t “goes live”
f life”, t j t that “ li ”
and then is over …
Page 17

18. > MDM Best Practice #8
Hub
Solution
Designs
• C
Create a d t governance
t data
organization and processes
– If there s no dedicated data
there’s
governance function, then no
one lives & dies with the
accuracy, completeness,
accuracy completeness
timeliness and consistency of
the critical information the
business uses
b i
– Before you start, convince
management of the need for a
g
small data governance team
There’s not much point in doing master data management if
p g g
you’re not going to govern the data …
Page 18

19. > MDM Best Practice #9
Hub
Solution
Designs
• R i t the urge to customize
Resist th t t i
– As the hubs mature, it's easier to
resist the temptation to
p
customize
– Sometimes pushing the vendor
to improve future releases is a
better strategy than
customization
– When you do customize, do it
carefully; make sure your
changes are “upgrade-friendly”
upgrade friendly
and documented
Vendors are still revving their products once or twice a year,
g p y
so you don’t want to get “rev locked” on an older version
Page 19

20. > MDM Best Practice #10
Hub
Solution
Designs
• D ’t underestimate the complexity
Don’t d ti t th l it
– Einstein said “Everything should be made
as simple as p
p possible, but not simpler.”
p
– Not uncommon to have 20-30 source
systems (or more) that have to be
integrated with the hub
– Tackling other things at the same time (like
SOA or major upgrades) – MDM can help
with those but it may increase degree of
difficulty
– If you underestimate, you’ll be under
pressure to cut f
functionality
MDM and data governance can be disruptive to the business unless
the business is driving the effort and it’s been well-planned
Page 20

21. > Advanced Topic #1
Hub
Solution
Designs
• Diff
Differences b t
between customer MDM
t
and product MDM
– Product data is usually more complex, less
structured and with more attributes
– Product data quality more challenging
(Oracle
(O l acquired Silver C k S t
i d Sil Creek Systems, a
leading Product Data Quality solution)
– Product data volumes tend to be higher,g ,
while initial data quality levels tend to be
lower
– Product data usually has more difficult
categorization and hierarchy management
It s
It’s possible to make the leap from customer MDM to product
MDM, but keep in mind the differences between the two
Page 21

22. > Advanced Topic #2
Hub
Solution
Designs
• Proacti e vs. reacti e data
Proactive s reactive
governance
– Reactive uses CRM and ERP
applications as “systems of entry”
– Proactive uses the MDM hub itself as
“system of entry”, then synchronizes
new records or updates to CRM and
ERP systems
• Initial data quality levels much
higher this way
• More “real time” – eliminates time
lags
g
• Reduces perception of “data
governance as bureaucracy”
It’s ti
It’ 5 times cheaper to enter the data right in the first place than to
h t t th d t i ht i th fi t l th t
fix it later, and a good MDM hub can enforce data quality up front
Page 22

23. > Advanced Topic #3
Hub
Solution
Designs
• F t i b tt !
Faster is better!
– Time to value, time to value, time to
value; like the saying ‘location,
; y g ,
location, location’ in the real estate
business
– The cost savings in 6 12 months can
6-12
pay for a targeted project, vs. waiting
2 years or more to get value from the
“ultimate” project
“ ”
– Can really hurt your ROI by increasing
costs & postponing benefits
Ask the business what it really wants – the elegant solution
with the latest ‘whiz bang’ technology, or to get their master
g gy, g
data pain points resolved and to start getting value from MDM
& data governance Page 23

24. > Advanced Topic #4
Hub
Solution
Designs
• Don’t forget to do a b siness case!
business
– You’ll need a business case to understand
the benefits, predict the direct and indirect
costs and sell the program internally
– Look for the big wins first; 80% of your
benefits will probably come from 20% of
your results
– Don’t try to ‘tin cup’ your way into MDM –
tackle the ‘800 pound g
p gorillas’ in the room
– Don’t file the business case away after
ROI
getting funding – use it as a tool to see how
you re
you’re doing relative to expectations, and to
expectations
manage throughout the life cycle
– Use marketing & communications skill set
Gartner research indicates that doing a business case for a
project raises its odds for success to over 75% Page 24

25. > MDM is a Long Term Journey …
Hub
Solution
Designs
“Nothing in this
“N thi i thi world can t k the
ld take th
place of persistence. Talent will not;
nothing is more common than
unsuccessful people with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is
almost a proverb. Education will not;
the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and d t
P i t d determination alone
i ti l
are omnipotent.”
Calvin Coolidge 30th U S President
Coolidge, U.S.
If you’re persistent, you can help your company manage
master data as an enterprise-wide asset – and transform itself
enterprise wide
in the process ...
Page 25

26. >
Hub
Solution
Designs
Questions?
Page 26

27. > Contact Info.
Hub
Solution
Designs
Hub Solution Designs Inc
H b Sol tion Designs, Inc.
188 Whiting Street, Suite 3
Hingham, MA 02043-3844
office: (781) 749-8910
web: www.hubdesigns.com
Dan Power, powerd@hubdesigns.com,
twitter.com/dan_power
_p
Subscribe to our newsletter:
www.hubdesigns.com/newsletter.html
g
Today’s slides will be posted at:
http://blog.hubdesigns.com
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