A Methodology for Adjusting Master Data

Executive Summary

• Does MDM Have to be as Complicated as it Often Presented?
• Why so Many MDM Projects Approach the Problem from the Wrong Perspective.
• What is the Real Process for Practical Master Data Maintenance?

Introduction

There are very significant opportunities to improve master data in supply chain organizations. After years of talking about master data and setting up governance teams, master data in supply chain systems is not improving. Secondly, the MDM solutions brought by companies like IBM, SAP, and Oracle have consumed a lot of resources but have not contributed to the improvement of master data.

The Process

MDM projects tend to focus on technology over the process. However, the technologies that have been brought out to deal with the issue are not that good. The post below describes what is now a well-known fact of MDM projects.

The process that I have used to improve master data does not change that much between clients and is roughly described below.

1. Pull the parameter information from the system and populate an online spreadsheet with all of this information. Each profile and data category is its tab.
2. Analyze and comment on the tabs in preparation for meeting with the business to discuss.
3. After meeting with the business to discuss the settings, please make a copy of the online workbook and change the state.
4. Use the pulled fields from the Location Product Master and perform analysis of all the settings per product. Run formulas on the spreadsheet to check for inconsistencies. Markup this worksheet, make changes and then update SAP with the spreadsheet changes. Keep the spreadsheet, with all of its codings as the master.
5. Push the changes back up to the system with WinShuttle (for SAP) or SQL for non-SAP applications.

The Technology

For each process point above, I recommend the following technologies:

1. Google Docs Spreadsheet for showing the available parameters. No other spreadsheet application allows for as easy multi-user access. SharePoint requires the checking in and checking out of documents and will interfere with the process.
2. There is no extra technology for this step; it is merely for presentation and socialization.
3. A copy of the Google Docs Spreadsheet (Google Docs can be hosted at the company, eliminating privacy concerns) can be made where the state will be documented for the master data parameters.
4. The next step requires extracting data from the system and validating the correct to state parameters assigned to the right objects (for instance, the product location combination). For SAP ERP and SAP APO, I have had success using WinShuttle. However, different systems require different extracting and uploading applications.

Conclusion

Master, data improvement is a continual opportunity at companies. If one were to go to conferences and listen to vendors, one could easily come away with the impressions that companies are by in large doing an excellent job of maintaining master data. This is not the case. Many companies lack an understanding of how to go about maintaining and updating this data, and many have been tricked into buying poorly designed and overly complicated MDM solutions. Also, beyond simple maintenance, I frequently run into master data problems that are not a question of maintenance but are the original settings from the implementation. These settings were never set correctly because the business never fully understood how the master data parameters controlled the system. Companies can operate for years using parameters that were set this way without reviewing them. Thus, when the system provides an undesirable output, the application logic rather than the configuration will most often get the blame.

Master data improvement requires just a few tools, several of which are free. By following a disciplined process and a practical approach to tool selection, very significant short-term improvements in master data are possible.