Three myths about master data management

The version of this that works is simpler than the version most people imagine. A few things about master data management that get repeated more often than they get checked.

Data outlives the applications built on top of it, which is why the model deserves more thought than the screens. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.

“It only matters for big sites”

Two systems with different customer records will disagree at the worst moment. Where this goes wrong is almost never a lack of knowledge. If it only works because one person remembers to do something, it does not work yet.

“We can deal with it after launch”

Sometimes true, usually expensive. In practice this is a scheduling problem more than a technical one.

“Our platform handles it”

Reconciliation is cheaper than arbitration later. In practice this is a scheduling problem more than a technical one. The teams that stay on top of it are the ones who put it on a calendar rather than a wish list.

In practice

Numbers get quoted in meetings long after anyone remembers how they were calculated. Three things worth confirming about master data management before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Decide which system is authoritative for each entity — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Most of the value here comes from doing the first two things, not all of them.