The Golden Rule of Data: What you put in is what you come out with. Master data feeds every type of enterprise system. As we say “rubbish in, rubbish out - garbage in, garbage out.” So do upon your data as you would have it do upon you.

How do we articulate this to the business? How do they understand what we do? Think about the 5 Pillars of Master Data In terms of managing it : Value. Value, Structure, Connectability, Coverage and Quality These aren't totally rank order but I'm going to end with quality because that's where most people start.

Digital transformation can mean a lot of things to a lot of people but one thing it means to everybody, every organization, is that you've got more data now than you ever had before and you need new ways to manage it, that you never thought of before, to do things you never imagined before.

If you can establish those 4Cs: code, company, category, country, a lot of data problems go away. You know where everything is. You know what kind of thing it is. You know who owns it. And you know it's unique.

When you're trying to codify a relationship, when you're trying to structure a relationship, we find that these 4Cs help simplify the process. Every entity, every record, every relationship needs to have these 4Cs: code, company, category, and country.

MDM stands for master data management. It's a type of software. The purpose of it is to create the Master Data content. MDM vs Master Data: These two things are inextricably linked but they are separate. every car needs gas, every kitchen needs food, all plumbing needs water.

This is Enterprise City. A utopia of interoperability, where data flows seamlessly across integrated ecosystems, but it wasn't always like this. Not long ago Enterprise city was stuck in a time of Legacy. Separated by silos. Confused by misinformation. No source of Truth to be found anywhere.

Master data is the most important data. It is the data in charge. Master Data is your most important data. It is the data in charge. It's in charge of your business. It is the most important data any enterprise has, any organization has. Not everybody realizes it. Not everybody treats it that way.

Thoughts about the MASTER DATA and ways to help you think about it. It's a common language for the common relationship types across an Enterprise. Does everybody have the same understanding? It's about rows and columns. It's about truth and meaning. It's about making good decisions.

When you establish a relationship in an MDM process or in a Master Data process when you codify a relationship, we talk about these 4Cs : CODE, COMPANY, CATEGORY and COUNTRY.