Many of the recent posts here on the blog have been around some of the most essential capabilities that Master Data Management (MDM) and Product Information Management (PIM) solutions are able to provide.

Data Matching

Having the ability to match and link master data records that are describing the same real-world entity is probably most useful in MDM and in the context of party master data. However, there are certainly also scenarios where product master data must be matched. While identifying the duplicates is hard enough, there must also be functionality to properly settle the match as explained in the post Three Master Data Survivorship Approaches.

Workflow Management

While the first MDM / PIM solutions emphasized on storing “a single source of truth” for master data, most tools today also provide functionality for processing master data. This is offered through integrated workflows as examined in the post Master Data Workflow Management.

Hierarchy Management

Master data comes in hierarchies (and even graphs). Examples are company family trees, locations and product classifications as told in the post Hierarchy Management in MDM and PIM.

Handling Multiple Cultures

If your solution will be implemented across multiple countries – and even in countries with multiple languages – you must be able to manage versions of master data and product information in these languages and often also represented in multiple alphabets and script systems. This challenge is described in the post Multi-Cultural Capabilities in MDM, PIM and Data Quality Management.

Reference Data Management

The terms master data and reference data are sometimes used synonymously. The post What is Reference Data Management (RDM)? is about what is usually considered special about reference data. Some MDM (and PIM) solutions also encompasses the handling of reference data.

The Capabilities That You Need

The above-mentioned capabilities are just some of the requirements you can mark in a service that can draft a list of MDM/PIM/DQM tools that are most relevant for you. Try it here: Select your solution.