Master Data Management (MDM)

We were commissioned by a global company to support a project to implement effective Master Data Management (MDM) across the organisation. The project aimed to define and introduce management of critical data, integrate data so that they have a robust point of reference and enable the ability to draw upon consistent data to inform decision making supported by appropriate governance.

We initially undertook a series of 1:1 interviews with key stakeholders across the business to capture data requirements by business function and to begin developing an MDM mindset by emphasizing focus on data. We conducted a pre-analysis of the critical data identified, considering factors such as Geography, service line, customer and commercial contracts.

We then mapped these critical data requirements against existing business processes and analysed the pain points so that root causes and associated solutions could be developed. We identified data domain owners, business process owners and established a governance team that acted as data stewards and custodians. 

We documented a data model, identifying fields and data types in the processes and systems. There were a number of opportunities to improve data accuracy to resolve pain points, with the introduction of more mandatory fields and drop-down menus. Through this exercise, we undertook a comparison between global standards and local requirements. 

By the end of the definition, measurement and analyse phases of the project we were able to establish a Master Data List with fields to cleanse against and had sufficient structure and information to train data stewards to enable development of internal capabilities.

The project was then handed-over to the internal team to execute the system changes and implement the recommended process changes that we had proposed.