Master Data Management
Get “one version of truth.”
Business Needs
Customer MDM | Product MDM | Reference MDM | Hierarchy MDM | Multi-domain MDM | Metadata Registry (MDR)
Product MDM
Product data is the second most common domain mastered today—primarily in the supply chain, where the main business initiative is New Product Introduction (NPI). A new product needs to be introduced to the market as quickly as possible to minimize obsolescence and gain market share ahead of the competition.
Common uses for product data management include:
- Supply chain optimization through collaboration and synchronization with trading partners
- Faster new product introduction
- Aligning product data with other domains, such as customer, supply chain and marketing, to empower customer service and uncover cross/up sell opportunities
- Establishing a centralized hub for product creation to ensure product data quality
- Synchronizing product data with trading partners
- Multi-layered and granular workflow, supporting timely input of subject matter experts
- Asset and location management
- Government services as products
In many instances, suppliers provide product data to retailers through the Global Data Synchronization Network (GDSN). The value in this is that it provides a standards-based method for synchronizing data with trading partners, facilitating the NPI process and enhancing supply chain management.
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Product data can also be kept in-house, where it is centralized in an MDM solution, or it can be published to subscribing systems within the enterprise, just like any other data.
Take inventory management, for example. Large manufacturers often have duplicate Stock-Keeping Units (SKUs) in their systems represented by different part or product identifiers, resulting in excess inventory. Consolidating and removing duplicates, a common MDM process, can help you reduce excessive inventory.
Additionally, products don’t have to be physical things. Government programs and services are also considered products and can be mastered just the same. This encompasses things such as better tax collection, law enforcement, public safety and citizen services, single version of case (in child welfare and criminal justice), as well as public access and visibility into government programs.
Learn more:
- See how Software AG uses MDM to master product data
- About mastering product data with webMethods OneData
