Customer/product master data

[sweetleaf]

Hello,

I was wondering of what others have done to address master data scenarios such as this one:

there are a handful of systems all containing customer and product information which is buried into the transaction data. there are a few systems to track sales and products, and others for financials and billings. over a couple dozen systems in total across a few geographies. the company has been around for a while so theres a lot of data and its scattered about.

How can this be consolidated or managed in a way that addresses system/data sprawl issues, the need for consolidated reporting, and the need for accurate information? i am thinking a data warehouse? or ODS? or combination? but what would this look like -- eg. would these legacy systems feed a new db such as a DW but still keep its copy of the data? or would it all just be linked informally?

Any ideas ideas and discussion are much appreciated!

 

[johnherman]

You need to assemble a superset of all the customer attributes, and a superset of all the product attributes. Then determine the system of record for each attribute - who maintains that field. Then, an ODS can pass the changed date back and forth to the other systems and thus insure consistency. If a particular system does not have or need some particular attribute, it need not be enhanced to handle the unnecessary field.

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The trouble with doing something right the first time is that nobody appreciates how difficult it was - Steven Wright