9 STEPS TO

GETTING
STARTED
WITH
MDM
 Introduction

Master data management (MDM) continues to gain momentum as

more organizations recognize the fundamental need to make sense of
an increasingly chaotic and complex enterprise information landscape.

IT and business leaders know they have a master data problem,

but struggle to effectively solve it via the right combination of
organizational change and technology.

The goal of this eBook is to help you and your organization outline, in
short and simple terms, a set of approachable and tangible steps to
getting started with MDM.
 01

Educate Yourself
MDM is a young but rapidly maturing technology area. Depending on who you ask, the market penetration for
MDM is at most 10%, and likely lower. An artifact of this is that few potential stakeholders have direct experience
with MDM.

You are not alone.

Begin by educating yourself on the fundamentals of master data management. We recommend you review the
following key concepts:

1. MDM implementation styles: Registry, centralized, co-existence, and consolidated (as outlined by Gartner,
and generally agreed upon).
2. The common functions an MDM platform should provide: Modeling, integration (batch and real-time),
web services, data quality, business rules, workflow, matching, survivorship, and stewardship; don’t forget
non-functional capabilities such as scalability and high-availability.
3. Common MDM domain categories: People (customers, employees, patients, etc.), Organizations
(customers, vendors, partners, etc.), and Things (products, parts, locations, assets, etc.).
4. The typical master data needs in your industry: Companies that distribute finished products have different
needs than an industrial manufacturer; healthcare and insurance companies share common needs
around provider and patient/insured member.

Key Takeaway: The following blog post provides a good background on MDM, and has stood the test of time very
well. Some of the terminology has evolved, but the concepts still apply.
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb190163.aspx

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 02

Understand Where You Are

You are already tackling MDM... in some form or fashion.

It is likely that your organization is already managing master data in

some way. Some common scenarios we often encounter at our new
customers include:

1. CRM and ERP systems are the system of record for storing and
maintaining the master lists of customers, products, vendors,
etc. This is often a benefit used to justify investments in these
applications. But MDM isn’t their focus. Over time this becomes
clear as ongoing MDM needs go unmet.
2. Master data is managed in Excel, the #1 data management tool.
We’ve seen very sophisticated Excel-based “MDM solutions,” which
ultimately fail to meet increasingly complex business needs, but
provide valuable input for defining a more permanent solution.
3. MDM was too expensive, so we built something in-house. Until
recently, MDM software was unaffordable for all but the largest
organizations and budgets. Profisee’s Master Data Maestro
platform is “breaking the MDM mold,” providing small and mid-
sized organizations an affordable enterprise MDM solution.

Key Takeaway: Understanding current data management efforts will give

insight into existing business problems and provide input for an MDM
business case. You may also identify deficiencies in current processes,
revealing additional opportunities for improvement. Finally, stakeholders
and users of existing solutions are key candidates to collaborate with as
you build support for your MDM initiative.
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 03

Understand Your Scope

It can sometimes feel like solving “World Peace.”

By department? By application? By region? By domain? Data permeates the

enterprise and flows in and out of multiple systems. Structured data and
unstructured data all need to be considered when “solving a truly trusted, single
view of data.” What is the master data that we need to manage?

We work with customers along a spectrum. One extreme finds organizations that
have made a decision at the executive level that MDM is a critical component to
supporting the strategy of the company—along with the associated budget, these
initiatives carry an edict that everyone fall in line. The other extreme is the lone
individual who has a very specific MDM use case to solve with limited budget and
support. Most of our customers are in the middle third of this spectrum.

Understanding your organizational support for MDM is a key input to outlining

MDM’s scope. If support is limited, you’ll likely need to scale up your business case,
budget, and governance function to suit. If you have funding as a part of a major
initiative, you can focus your business case more on building support, forming a
sophisticated governance function, and orchestrating a number of fairly complex
business process changes.

Key Takeaway: You need to understand whether you’re building your MDM
program from the bottom up, by starting small and gaining support and
momentum over time by demonstrating value quickly, or from the top down, with
a more transformative “bigger bang” approach.

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 04

Build a Business Case

MDM is not a project.

Today, it is a major business initiative and cornerstone of any

enterprise information strategy (Gartner). While the funding
for MDM may be front-loaded, it will require ongoing funding
in future budget cycles for operations and enhancements. If
MDM loses funding after year one, it will be, by all measures, a
failed initiative.

Building a business case tied to business objectives that

impact the bottom line is key. Position MDM to justify both
the initial and ongoing funding to support a long-term data
management strategy.

Building a winning business case for MDM: Ensure you focus

on the business benefits of MDM; not simply the end result/
solution statement. Examples of solution statements could
be “Create a single view of our customers”, “Improve the
quality and consistency of product data”, or “Facilitate the
consolidation of multiple legacy applications into a new ERP
platform.” These endeavors, while noble, do not inherently
deliver value to the business. They must be tied to actual
revenue generation or cost saving business objectives.

When building your business case, focus on the business

drivers for MDM, and why it matters—like the following...

6
 Here are some real-world examples:

We need to understand our relationship to our customers

across all lines of business so we can understand, manage,
and forecast our potential customer value. We do not have a
trusted, single view of our customer today.

With the adoption of the Affordable Care Act, there is a new

direct-to-consumer market for health insurance. We have
historical information about insured individuals, but need
to better organize and manage it to provide input to newly
formed insurance plans, and as a resource to drive revenue
by marketing to known individuals we don’t insure.

We need to manage the relationships between entities,

including ownership structures and roles as customers
and/or vendors to manage conflict of interest regulations.
By understanding our complete relationship with an
entity, we can reduce costs by identifying opportunities to
negotiate favorable terms with our suppliers. Revenue can
be protected by identifying and avoiding possible conflicts
of interest where doing business with one entity would
preclude business with another entity with a higher
revenue opportunity.

Key Takeaway: As you craft your business case, make sure

you tie your MDM strategy to the strategy of the business.
Favor business terminology over technical terms. Attach
dollar values to the business problems MDM can help solve.

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 05

Identify Stakeholders
Campaign for their Support

Operational MDM done well...

...will require people to change the way they do their jobs. Identify the
stakeholders who manage your eventual data stewardship community, and
involve them early.

Seek out the operational departments that will be affected by the MDM
program and factor their perspectives into your business case. While your
business case must justify the capital investment, it is just as important that
your business case communicate MDM’s benefit to other stakeholders who
will be investing their time supporting the program.

Involve potential stakeholders early. Educate them on the concept of MDM

and how it will benefit them. Many of our customers begin their MDM journey
with a single business stakeholder. Having many stakeholders is ideal, but
does mean you’ll have more work to do to coordinate and communicate
between all parties (see the following Governance step).

Key Takeaway: Sales and marketing are a common benefactor of a successful

MDM program. Market the benefits of MDM to sales and marketing and
investigate opportunities to partner with these groups. MDM commonly
provides a better understanding of your customer base and higher quality
product data, both of which benefit sales and marketing. Garnering their
support will go a long way toward justifying your MDM program.

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 06

Don’t Ignore Data Governance

Governance vs. stewardship... what’s the difference?

There often is confusion around the difference between governance and stewardship.
Simply stated: governance defines what needs to be done; stewardship does it. If you
start “doing” before defining what needs to be done, you’ll likely be working on the wrong
things. And, even if you are doing the right things, there’s still a higher probability your
stakeholders will reject your efforts having been denied the opportunity to participate.

Organizations often aren’t sure where to start at the first governance council meeting.
Analysis and solution design should not be performed at these meetings. If you find
yourself designing a process or defining what a product or customer is at a governance
council meeting—stop immediately. Instead, the governance council should focus on
setting roles, responsibilities, broad policies and standards (see MDM Program Charter
below). With this foundation, the council then identifies topics, manages priorities, and
assigns the highest priority topics to virtual teams or working groups for execution.

In the formative phase of your MDM program, the items addressed by virtual teams
typically include source system analysis, data model definition, and data process design.
As you progress, attention turns toward topics such as data quality rules, KPIs, and metrics.

Key Takeaway: If the scope of your MDM program is on a smaller scale, scale your
governance function to suit. You don’t need a multi-faceted governance council with
multiple virtual teams. A governance council can be as simple as yourself and a single
stakeholder. There is no one-size-fits-all model for governance.

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 07

The MDM Program Charter

Your First Governance Deliverable

Where do I start?

Participants of the first governance meeting are often a bit unsure about exactly where to start. Assuming you’re
the chair of this new governance function, don’t show up empty handed. Set a clear expectation that the goal of
the first meeting is an MDM program charter, based on a draft you provide. This presents a concrete deliverable
and allows you to set the tone of the program.

Similar to governance itself, the charter should be scaled to the relative scope of your MDM program. If it is just
you and a single stakeholder, the charter can be shorter and less formal. If the governance council has multiple
members spanning business functions, your charter will be more detailed and formal.

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Key Takeaway: To help you get started, here is a
superset of the various sections we’ve observed to be
included in many governance charters:

• Background: An overview of MDM and data

governance, including scope and scale of the
effort, and any industry or corporate nuances of
interest.
• Data Governance Purpose/Mission/Principles/
Vision/Goals: Some combination of these as
appropriate to justify the creation of the program
and what it aims to achieve.
• Governance Structure/Roles/Membership/
Responsibilities: Outline the structure of the
governance organization, the roles within that
structure, the participating members, and their
respective mappings to roles.
• Meeting Logistics: Meeting frequency, locations,
attendance, and other general logistics.
• Communications: How governance outcomes will
be communicated to members and interested
parties (email, website, wiki, etc.).
• Process: Outline the process to capture, prioritize,
assign, and resolve topics in the data
governance backlog.
• Glossary: Define the common terms used in the
context of MDM and data governance.

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 08

Select Your MDM Platform

You may be surprised that as an MDM vendor, we defer this until step 8.

Master data management is a multifaceted problem, and technology is part of the solution. Unfortunately,
premature platform purchase and implementation encourages you to shortcut planning and simply start “doing.”

Key Takeaway: It is in nobody’s best interest to fast-track planning and implement technology prematurely.
Therefore, we spend significant time working with customers and prospects on the formative steps listed above.
When it comes time to implement a technology solution, adoption is the ultimate measure of success.
The above steps will increase your odds of delivering a widely adopted and accepted MDM solution.

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 [Deliver Your Phase 1 MDM Solution]
With your MDM software selected, the implementation of your Phase
I solution begins. This eBook, by design, focuses on the 9 steps crucial
to successfully planning and getting started with your MDM initiative.
Therefore, we are intentionally omitting best practices and guidance on
MDM project implementation and delivery from this guide.

Please visit profisee.com/services or schedule a call with one of our

experts for guidance on the fundamentals of implementing MDM as a
cornerstone of an enterprise information management strategy.

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 09

Measure Your Success

KPIs are critical.

At this point, you’ve built a business case, received funding,

gotten the right parties involved, delivered the first phase of
your project to production, and have an active and growing data
stewardship community.

Don’t stop there. As our own customers successfully deliver their

solutions into production, we often look to understand the actual
value being delivered to their business stakeholders. More often
than not, this analysis hasn’t been performed.

Once the first phase solution is in use, measure the business value
it’s actually delivering relative to your business case. Ideally the
results support your original business case and perhaps deliver
value in ways not originally anticipated. If for some reason you fell
short in some areas, there’s value in understanding that as well.

Final Takeaway: Remember, your MDM program will require

ongoing funding. While you may feel it is a justified investment,
it might not be clear to others. Proactively measuring and
communicating your performance against MDM KPIs will
help secure ongoing investments for MDM, and serve as the
foundation for your enterprise information transformation in a
chaotic and complex world of digital data.

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Connect Anything. Master Everything.
Profisee is a leading enterprise data management company that makes it easy
and affordable for any size organization to ensure a trusted data foundation.
Our unique, Profisee Advantage™ approach allows companies to leverage
enterprise multi-domain data management capabilities, without limits on
users, data volume or sources.

Our customers have the freedom to choose their deployment; on any

application or device, with the flexibility to deliver on premise, in the cloud, or
via a hybrid model. Profisee’s unique Total Cost Ownership model leads the
data management industry. This has provided the industry’s highest customer
satisfaction rating by accelerating and exceeding customer expectations.

Visit profisee.com to learn more or contact us to get a conversation started.

Profisee Headquarters
+1 678 202 8990
[email protected]

www.profisee.com

© 2018 Profisee Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

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