Comments on: Defining MDM – again http://blogs.gartner.com/andrew_white/2009/07/01/defining-mdm-again/ A member of the Gartner Blog Network Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:59:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Brian Schulte http://blogs.gartner.com/andrew_white/2009/07/01/defining-mdm-again/comment-page-1/#comment-897 Brian Schulte Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:10:12 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrew_white/?p=332#comment-897 I recommend thinking in terms of governance rather than getting hung up on definition. If, for example, the enterprise identifies certain Master Data and Reference Data that needs to be governed centrally, you would employ a similar process. We govern currency codes, customer accounts and legal entity hierarchy following the same business practice. I recommend thinking in terms of governance rather than getting hung up on definition. If, for example, the enterprise identifies certain Master Data and Reference Data that needs to be governed centrally, you would employ a similar process. We govern currency codes, customer accounts and legal entity hierarchy following the same business practice.

]]> By: Bhaskar Kuppusamy http://blogs.gartner.com/andrew_white/2009/07/01/defining-mdm-again/comment-page-1/#comment-221 Bhaskar Kuppusamy Wed, 07 Oct 2009 14:49:35 +0000 http://blogs.gartner.com/andrew_white/?p=332#comment-221 Hello - A great question and one that definately needs to be addressed. I have a slightly different view of Master Data. Let me start with an example. If a customer goes to the bank and deposits a check, it is a transaction whereas If the customer changes the address it is a change to the master data. So what is the difference? Master data events (create, update, delete) are "infrequent" as compared to transaction data events as defined by the business's operations. So what if the customer made just one deposit in a year and changed the address twice in the same year, then are the definitions reversed? No. Under normal business operations it is expected that number of address changes will be far less than the number of deposits/withdrawals. Hence addres change is a Master data related change. Is address change a transaction for a business like NCOA. May be, in which case the Master data may be something else..maybe SSN. I like the the definition of Wiki as it attempts to define Master data (non-transactional data, etc). I see you define MDM but did'nt see Master data being defined per se. -Bhaskar Hello – A great question and one that definately needs to be addressed.

I have a slightly different view of Master Data. Let me start with an example. If a customer goes to the bank and deposits a check, it is a transaction whereas If the customer changes the address it is a change to the master data. So what is the difference?

Master data events (create, update, delete) are “infrequent” as compared to transaction data events as defined by the business’s operations. So what if the customer made just one deposit in a year and changed the address twice in the same year, then are the definitions reversed? No. Under normal business operations it is expected that number of address changes will be far less than the number of deposits/withdrawals. Hence addres change is a Master data related change.

Is address change a transaction for a business like NCOA. May be, in which case the Master data may be something else..maybe SSN.

I like the the definition of Wiki as it attempts to define Master data (non-transactional data, etc). I see you define MDM but did’nt see Master data being defined per se.

-Bhaskar

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