by Angela Guess
A recent MDM summit has shown that companies are becoming more comfortable with master data management and are ready to move into more complicated realms such as unstructured data. A report from the summit states, “One indication of MDM’s maturity is that discussions about “type of MDM” were sparingly few–an indication that the MDM community is past the initial confusion. (That’s not to say that MDM style doesn’t matter, it does. It remains one of the most, if not the most, important architectural decisions you’ll make in the early stages of your MDM program.) A presentation at the conference on unstructured MDM shows that we’re comfortable with the core concept of MDM, and ready to extend it to areas like unstructured master data. However, my advice is to let it rest until you’ve mastered the management of structured master data.”
The article continues, “It certainly makes sense to keep the two initiatives aligned since unstructured MDM uses structured master data as metadata. In other words, structured and unstructured master data are bridged by metadata, so you’ll need to have a good handle on your metadata management practices as a pre-requisite to unstructured MDM. How about using your CRM product as your customer (master) hub? Don’t do it, was one presenter’s response: CRM is about business functions and transactions, whereas MDM is about hierarchies and uniqueness, and never the twain shall meet.”
photo credit: woodleywonderworks
