In business, master data management (MDM) is a method used to define and manage the critical data of an organization to provide, with data integration, a single point of reference.[1] The data that is mastered may include reference data - the set of permissible values, and the analytical data that supports decision making.[2]
In computing, a master data management tool can be used to support master data management by removing duplicates, standardizing data (mass maintaining),[3] and incorporating rules to eliminate incorrect data from entering the system in order to create an authoritative source of master data. Master data are the products, accounts and parties for which the business transactions are completed. The root cause problem stems from business unit and product line segmentation, in which the same customer will be serviced by different product lines, with redundant data being entered about the customer (a.k.a. party in the role of customer) and account in order to process the transaction. The redundancy of party and account data is compounded in the front to back office life cycle, where the authoritative single source for the party, account and product data is needed but is often once again redundantly entered or augmented.
Master data management has the objective of providing processes for collecting, aggregating, matching, consolidating, quality-assuring, persisting and distributing such data throughout an organization to ensure a common understanding, consistency, accuracy and control[4] in the ongoing maintenance and application use of this information.
The term recalls the concept of a master file from an earlier computing era.
MDM is of particular interest to large organizations, highly data distributed organizations, and those that have frequent or large-scale merger and acquisition activity. Acquiring another company creates wide-reaching data integration challenges that MDM is designed to mitigate. Thus, MDM can accelerate the time-to-value from an acquisition.
MDM also helps companies with segmented product lines, preventing disintegrated customer experiences.