Mastering Master Data. How?

What to do when a renown French anthropologist seems to be making the most famous blue jeans in the market?

(when you can’t see the difference between Lévi-Strauss and Levi Strauss)

Information on how to develop a Master Data Management solution is quite abundant, and it quite easy to find a few frameworks that can easily be adapted to the tool of choice.

What makes it so difficult? - even when you’re considering if your organization needs to adapt an MDM solution, or you've already decided it, but you don’t know where to start, if you already have some MDM capabilities implemented but need to step up, or worse you already have a failure in your hands – How can it be achieved?

Vision

One of the frequent causes for failure of master data management failures, or at least some lack of traction is usually appointed to some lack of leadership buy-in and commitment – something I tend to relate to the absence of a strong and clear vision for master data.

The role of top management it’s not simply to sanction the solution.

The priority must be to establish the business vision. What’s the role of Master Data in the overall business strategy, and consequently in data strategy?

It is essential that they communicate a vision of what and why is to be achieved – a strong purpose - to demonstrate that the Master Data Management solution is an unquestionable priority, making other leaders accountable, and making it harder to back-track.

These processes need buy-in from all levels of the organization, it may start with strong executive sponsorship but needs the commitment of all the other stakeholders in the organization.

Clear, ambitious (business) objectives

Data’s purpose is to create value, so any data strategy must be oriented towards the organization's strategic priorities and key business objectives - Data strategy is business strategy. The same is true for master data, maybe even more considering the critical role this data plays in the most critical processes within an organization.

The drivers for a Master Data Management solution can be many, depending on the objectives of the organization. They might be oriented towards, customer centricity, product excellence, regulatory compliance objectives or operational efficiency.

It doesn’t matter how clear the benefits are, the bottom line is that the business value of a Master Data Management solution must be very clear to all the stakeholders.

Whatever the driver behind the initiative it is essential that clear, ambitious objectives are set from the beginning - objectives that can be clearly related to business objectives and evaluated by the business value they generate.

Plan with the end in mind

Building a Master Data Management solution can be a long process, it needs careful planning.

Creating a roadmap is an essential tool. Mapping all the initiatives needed to complete the Master Data Management objectives, identifying which data domains to address, which data to include in those domains, which systems and processes will be involved, identifying the existing gaps between the current situation and the future situation, and most important the existing gap between business and the existing IT ecosystem.

It is critical to reinforce the role of business in this process, to allow that all initiatives are driven and oriented by the business units. Master Data Management is mostly a technical initiative, but some of its most critical components are a business responsibility, as it is the business who better knows what their problems and objectives are.

Planning the roadmap must also create the conditions to ensure early efforts to thrive and gain traction. Choosing carefully on which initiatives to start with and support them with the necessary resources.

Start small

The priorities identified in the roadmap allow to define the business cases to address first – business cases not use cases.

In an early stage, for effectiveness purposes, there should not be more than five business cases running in parallel, all with clear, achievable objectives and stakeholders that are aware of the importance and impact of data.

All these cases have a business owner, and it’s essential to identify the owners of these cases that have their processes impacted by low quality master data. Define what these problems are costing the organization, and how much it can save by solving them.

Select small, targeted initiatives, where the impact and value of master data can be clearly identified, with business stakeholders that can passionately and effectively articulate the impacts of master data in their business processes and that will be eager to defend the project.

Focus on success and on gaining traction. Look for initiatives that can be framed within a reasonable funding model, that are targeted, with focused effort, within short timeframes, able to increase internal engagement, and that can deliver targeted returns on short timeframes.

Agile mindset

Apply an agile development mindset to all this process, start with a minimum viable solution and iterate, allow those visible results are presented in short time lapses.

Promoting agile product development, test-and-learn methods, and cross-functional teams that bring together specific types of expertise, will enhance the capabilities to create the business values necessary to build momentum and a sequence of successful data initiatives.

This agile mindset combined with the ongoing initiatives where the business stakeholders have an active role will accelerate the process of quickly move from the findings to specific actions.

Build on success stories

A success story, even at a small scale will create the awareness within the organization and act as a motor to leverage the replication of that story in other business units.

When these initiatives are successful and deliver the intended benefits, business leaders will be encouraged to push to achieve more, not only focusing on what works well, but also on letting go of what doesn’t work.

Additionally, this focus on the involvement of business stakeholders driving these processes where visible business value is generated, will turn potential detractors in to change evangelists, even if only by sheer peer pressure.