Master Data Management - Intro

This article will explain 

- What is Master data Management

- Why we need it

- Example

What is Master Data Management

Every organization collects data from various systems. However, gathering data from different systems, correcting inappropriate data, standardizing it, and then creating a single record that is most reliable is known as master data management. This record is called master data. Have you ever encountered a situation where you had the same information stored in two different systems? It can be confusing and time-consuming to manage. Let's discuss a scenario in which we face the same issue with duplicate data.

 Master Data Management System

A system that is used to manage this master data is a master data management system. In the market many MDM tools are available. This system collects data from multiple source systems performs cleansing and improves data quality, merges similar records into a single record and it will be given to the business user.

End user can be any system where collective data is used to take any business decision.

Why we need it

1. The quality of data will be improved. Data collected by MDM will be in a standard format by which quality will be maintained
2. Avoid Redundancy There might be chances of having duplicate records. MDM will make sure that redundancy will be eliminated and will have a single record. 
3. It will give 360 view to the end user by providing information from all the sources into a single system. 
4. Helps in decision-making as data is presented in a single view from various systems.
5. Up-to-date data across all the systems

Example:

Here we will take an example of any retail industry super market. Data will be collected from various systems into the database like online sites, shops, and market stores. It might be possible that the same customer purchases a product online as well as buy it from the shop. Which will create duplicate data. In this scenario, we will have duplicate information from two systems.

There might be a possibility that some of the information will be missing while buying products online. For example, a customer might not provide personnel details. So we will be missing this information in the online system which can be collected from the store database. This way we will get missing data collected from other systems.

There might be a possibility that the customer provides incomplete information about the address in the store. But we can get these details from his online purchase where the online address will be more trustworthy compared to the store.

Managing data from multiple source systems and viewing them on a single platform is difficult. However, MDM will provide this all information in a single view. In the above example you will be able to see the information of a single customer who is registered online and from the store will be collected and stored in MDM. Business users can view this information in a single view.