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Include all the relevant people in early discussions about your MDM deployment

As you build out your MDM roadmap, you’ll naturally begin to talk about different deployment strategies, related initiatives and what the project will look like upon maturity. Such conversations are important to have at the beginning of your project, as waiting can dramatically limit your options and may force you into a less than ideal situation.

Deployment Strategies

This roadmap domain defines what users will be impacted by the new processes and applications enabled by MDM, as well as designating when and how they will be affected.

There are significant user acceptance risks associated with MDM deployment.

For example, if bank tellers or customer support representatives are not be involved early enough in the MDM process, they can be surprised by a list of new requirements when the business processes change, such as:

• Every time they intend to create a new customer they must first search the data hub
• Every time they speak with a customer they have to verify certain pieces of information
• Their performance will be measured by how well they perform these data quality functions

This type of change, its timing and user training should be well thought and properly orchestrated to ensure the smoothest transition possible.

When end users will be impacted, it may be a good idea to deploy the MDM solution for a small but representative group of users first.

A partial deployment can represent a challenge, though. It may not be easy to deploy the new solution to some end users while still keeping the other users on the old system and business processes. However, doing so can help identify – and correct – any gaps in the business processes or areas that need further discussion.

Related Initiatives

Some initiatives can be dependent on MDM. Conversely, the MDM program can have a dependency on some other initiatives. These dependencies can represent significant risks (or opportunities) and must be addressed by the MDM roadmap.

Some of the related efforts may include:

• A Data Warehouse
• Client and Product Hierarchy Management
• CRM
• SOA Infrastructure
• Reference Data Management
• Core Banking System
• Trust Accounting System
• Patient Registration System
• Claim Processing System

Each enterprise has its own portfolio of projects that may or may not include some of the projects from the list above. This portfolio should be reviewed from the MDM roadmap perspective.

Project dependency review can drive changes in MDM planning and impact the vision of MDM priorities. The MDM roadmap document must include a discussion of the key related initiatives, the nature of the dependencies and how they will be addressed.

Master Data Governance Maturity

Enterprise MDM is built for the benefit of multiple lines of business and therefore has a cross-functional context. Data governance is the organization that typically represents cross-functional business requirements and brings them to a common set of standards and controls.

Maturity of the data governance organization is critical for a successful MDM implementation. Some practitioners call MDM and data governance “siblings.” My colleague, Marty Moseley, recently blogged on the unique relationship between the two.

A lack of data governance support can cause risks and additional costs of the MDM implementation, so again, it’s important to have these conversations early in the process.

If the individuals responsible for the MDM implementation identify weaknesses or immaturities in data governance, they should ensure the MDM roadmap includes proper support and evolution of data governance capabilities required to enable MDM, develop and socialize master data policies, establish properly functioning data governance council, and define master data quality processes and controls.

As we continue to discuss the various domains of MDM, it’s apparent that building a roadmap is no easy task that can be confined to a small team and a couple meetings. But the key is to involve the stakeholders – and eventual end-users – in conversations about business processes, related initiatives and the maturity of other processes across the organization.

This is part of a series, Building an MDM Roadmap. For other posts and a complete index, view the Table of Contents.