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Case · MDM architecture · Manufacturing and trading

MDM architecture design: from business goals to the IT solution

A large manufacturing and trading company with a distributed IT landscape and a wide product range asked us to design its master data architecture before implementing MDM.

  • Manufacturing and trading
  • 2025
  • 23 consuming systems
  • 193,000 records
Discuss your MDM project MDM implementation
  • 23consuming systems to receive central master data
  • 71main and dependent domains in the MDM structure
  • 193,000records to cleanse and centralise
  • 10 monthsplanned for adaptation, integration, migration and phased launch

The task

A target architecture every department agrees on

The company needed clear goals for MDM, an agreed target architecture, a confirmed cleansing scope and requirements for adapting the MDM platform, before any build work began.

What we did

Goals, architecture and data model

  • Onboarded all departments: business value identified, implementation goals clarified, a steering committee formed and involved
  • Target architecture: MDM is the trusted source for most systems (accounting, CRM, website), receives the org structure and users from the HR system and contracts from document management, and keeps data marts for consolidation and analytics. 23 systems in total
  • An ontology model: entities such as items, classifications and lists, their attributes (type, description, units, mandatory or not), sources (systems, tables, fields), transformations and links to the target MDM domains
  • Functional and technical requirements for adapting MDM, based on the specification, 17 interviews and feedback from departments

Cleansing scope

193,000 records to centralise

  • 89,000 business partner records, 21,000 finished goods, 25,000 MRO items and 58,000 records in supporting domains
  • About 60% of business partner records excluded as archived, wrong, or leads without a tax number
  • About 70% of MRO records screened out as unused: no stock, purchases or use in production

Approach

Bottom up

  • We started with data extracts and data structure, then interviewed process owners and key IT specialists
  • Each department got its own goals and business value from MDM, so the project solves its practical tasks
  • Centralisation priorities set by data completeness, cleansing volume and the role of each system, from accounting to CRM and online sales
  • Project governance: a steering committee and a working group approved, decisions agreed with business and IT on a regular basis

Results

A confirmed plan for the MDM roll-out

This work was the first stage of the MDM implementation programme, which continues with cleansing and a phased launch.

  • Requirements for adapting and configuring MDM, a register of domains to centralise and a register of consuming systems

  • A confirmed cleansing scope and a project charter with working groups

  • A phased roadmap: first an MVP with a clean business partner master for key systems, then the other domains, including the material master, and pilot operation

Contact

Let's discuss your MDM project

Tell us about your systems and master data domains. We will propose a plan and the first steps.

  1. 1
    Task and systems

    What you have now and what you need

  2. 2
    Quick assessment

    Data, processes and IT landscape

  3. 3
    Work plan

    Stages, timeline and scope

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