Master data management is the way a company manages master data – about customers, products, suppliers and organisational structure – so that a single valid version exists across all systems. Every growing company knows the problem it solves: a customer is recorded one way in the sales system, another way in accounting, and yet another way in the online shop, and the figures never match in any report. The basis of the solution is not new software but an agreement. For each type of data, it is determined which system is the source of truth, who owns the data and is responsible for its accuracy, how the data is created and changed, and how a change is propagated to the other systems. Only then does it make sense to address the technical integration. Without a designated owner, the disorder returns.
See also: Data audit, Record deduplication, Data dictionary.
