Utbenat: Master data

Introduction

Sebastian:

‍Imagine your family has set up a shared digital calendar, synced to everyone's phones. The purpose is crystal clear: to keep everyday life together and avoid double bookings. It works wonderfully at first.

But one Friday afternoon you check the app, see that the evening is completely free, and plan a quiet night at home. You've just settled into the sofa when your partner comes home and says: "Why are you sitting there? I've booked us for dinner at the neighbors' tonight! I told you on Tuesday, I just didn't have time to put it in the app..."

And there you are. Technically, the app works flawlessly, but the calendar is no help if the process isn't followed. If the rule "if it's not in the calendar, it doesn't exist" isn't followed one hundred percent by everyone involved, the value of having a shared calendar erodes very quickly.

Today we're going to talk about that digital calendar, but in the corporate world. We're going to talk about master data. The concept built on the ambition of having one secured source of truth. A "single source of truth". But we'll also look at why this concept often falls apart when we're tempted to take shortcuts in everyday work.

The definition: the exclusive right to decide

Sebastian:

‍Master data is about getting your most important information in order. Your customers, products, and suppliers. To achieve that goal, we need to understand a fundamental principle: if a system is to be considered the master of something, then that system must have the exclusive right to decide over that data.

If you allow other systems to update the information from the side, or if employees bypass the process, the master data chain breaks. It's exactly like the family calendar: if you allow important plans to be communicated only verbally on the side, the system loses its purpose and the truth is forgotten and lost.

Collection vs. ownership – the address example

Sebastian:

‍What does this look like in practice? It often comes down to separating where information is collected from who actually owns the "official" truth.

Let's take the customer's address as an example. When a customer places an order in the e-commerce store, it's perfectly reasonable for them to enter an address, typically a delivery address. Maybe they're helping their parents with a renovation and want the goods shipped there, or they're buying a gift to be delivered to someone's home. For businesses, it might be delivery to a construction site.

Here's where a common trap appears. If the organization is allowed to pull customer information from the e-commerce platform instead of from the CRM system – which should be master for the customer – we risk believing the customer has moved. Suddenly we think the parents' address is the customer's permanent home address, or that the company's headquarters has relocated to a construction site. The CRM system must be the secured source for the customer's actual address – whether that's a home address, a headquarters, or a billing address.

The e-commerce platform collects data for the specific transaction. The CRM system holds the customer as a whole. If we lose that distinction, the marketing material may end up at the parents' house and the invoice at the construction site. We need to know who owns the truth about the customer's address, based on our need, and make sure we only fetch information from there.

The validation gate – the product example

Sebastian:

‍The same applies to product data, which is often collected from many directions at once. Some information may come from the supplier via a supplier portal, some is pulled in from external industry databases, and a third part is created manually by a working group directly in your PIM or ERP system.

Here it's usually the PIM system, if you have one, that is master for product data. Once a product is in the PIM, it doesn't matter if a supplier goes in and makes a change in the supplier portal. That change doesn't take effect across the company until it has been validated and approved inside the PIM system. Only then does it apply. No other system may fetch products from any source other than the PIM, however tempting it may be to go straight to the source.

Because if we lose control of the flow, our rigid, quality-assured processes don't matter – the wrong data gets used anyway.

Distributed ownership – objects vs. attributes

Sebastian:

‍But... reality is rarely black and white. Sometimes we have to share the responsibility, and that's when we need to talk about objects and attributes. The product itself is an object. The PIM is master for the product data object. But the product also has a host of attributes, and one of them might be an ERP ID – the article number the product has inside the business system.

Here it's the business system, your ERP, that is master for that specific piece of the puzzle. The PIM must not invent its own ERP ID. So even if one system is the source we fetch the whole from, the right to update and change specific details – the attributes – can be distributed. You just need complete clarity on which system owns what.

It's when this reality becomes complex enough that we need dedicated master data systems. But for most organizations, the processes are the problem, not the lack of system support.

Respect the hierarchy – the conductor of the orchestra

Sebastian:

‍To make this work in the long run, we have to set boundaries. It often feels inevitable to build small, quick shortcuts between systems to save time here and now. But every shortcut is a risk that slowly erodes a master data concept.

Picture a large symphony orchestra. A hundred musicians, each with their own sheet music and instruments. They play beautifully on their own. But for it to become sweet music, everyone must fix their eyes on a single point: the conductor.

If the drummer and the bassist think the tempo is too slow and run their own race... well, it takes three seconds before the whole symphony sounds like a train wreck. Master data is about forcing all your systems, and processes, to keep watching the conductor. Even when they'd love to jam with the system next to them.

How to start on Monday

Sebastian:

‍Here's what you can do on Monday. Pick one of your most important concepts, for example "product". Sketch a simple map of where the information is collected today, and which system is actually your conductor, your master.

Then look for the illicit shortcuts. Does the e-commerce platform sometimes fetch information directly from the business system? Then you may have found a shortcut that erodes your truth, that ruins the symphony. Close it, and route the flow back so the master system alone holds the baton.

Summary

Sebastian:

‍To sum up: master data is about having one single, secured source of truth. To succeed, the chosen system must have the exclusive right to decide over the data. Separate the systems that collect information from the ones that own the truth, and respect the process. That's how you make the family calendar trustworthy and valuable.

Thanks for listening to today's episode of Utbenat. If you'd like to talk more about today's topic, or just talk data, reach out to us – you'll find us on LinkedIn. Or contact us through our website, fiwe.com – with a double u. Take care out there, and we'll talk soon!

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