|
Blog: Dan E. LinstedtNovember 3, 2006MDaaS, Master Data, pros and cons, and definitionIn this entry we'll dive a little further into the pros and cons of master data as a service (MDaas). We'll bring to light the different kinds of master data, and how it will evolve in the market place into a service oriented architecture, housed offsite (generically). MDaaS follows the standard curve of new ideas, individual creation (decentralization), then centralization, and then commodity based master data. I think the firm which undertakes master data as a commodity will be a hot property in the near future. Continue reading "MDaaS, Master Data, pros and cons, and definition" » October 28, 2006MDaaS - Master Data as a ServiceHave you ever thought about Master Data as a Service? Well, some companies are thinking this way. If this happens, a major paradigm shift will occur. This entry looks at MDaaS - and it's possibilities for changing the way we do business entirely. Who knows, maybe EII vendors could play in this space very very well. After all, they are the ones with Niche technology that really fits this space to begin with. Continue reading "MDaaS - Master Data as a Service" » August 19, 2006MDM and Consolidation of Data SetsMDM data often is dispersed across the organization. This begs the question: how can the MDM be a viable asset to the business base? Is the Master Data reused throughout the organization the way it should be? Is it defined in the right context (Master Metadata)? But technically, Master Data should be consolidated into a single global data center. MDM is not a tool, not a toy, not a process - it's a way of doing business that includes tools, best practices, people, governance, metadata and single answers. Continue reading "MDM and Consolidation of Data Sets" » July 31, 2006Business Metadata and Technical MetadataMy last entry introduced the concept. Making it work is the hard part. One of the comments I received asked about handling business changes, politics, and a variety of other circumstances. In this entry we'll begin diving in to the differences a little more, and discuss a small portion of the politics that surround this. I'll be presenting some of this information at the upcoming TDWI conference in August-2006, and the Upcoming Teradata Partners conference in November. Continue reading "Business Metadata and Technical Metadata" » June 21, 2006MDM: Taxonomies, Classifications, Ontologies, RegistriesMy oh my, we've thrown a lot of terms in to the mix. These days when you read magazine articles or you look through your local friendly blogger :) you find a slew of these terms used. Maybe it's time to refresh our memory on exactly what these terms mean. Why? Because they are pertinent to MDM and MMDM (master metadata data management). So read on... Continue reading "MDM: Taxonomies, Classifications, Ontologies, Registries" » May 15, 2006The Answer? MDM - MMDM - SOA and RegistriesThe question? What does the new business initiative really need to focus on? Today's business initiatives seem to be headed in many different directions, from SOA to MDM to registries, and business processes. The issue is that when different initiatives take on different directions (rather than a consolidated view and set of drivers) they all end up at different destinations. The cost is heart-ache, silo'd solutions, and a maintenance nightmare. The bottom line is that there is convergence afoot. I've written about this over the past 5 years in my convergence articles on TDAN, B-Eye Network, and Teradata Magazine. In this entry we'll explore what business should do, and how they should approach these very different initiatives (all with a common goal). Continue reading "The Answer? MDM - MMDM - SOA and Registries" » April 21, 2006MDM: Local Copies versus Localized CopiesWhat do I mean by Local versus Localized copies of Master Data? In this entry I will try to explain my definition for each. This is a short entry, and as always, comments are welcome. Continue reading "MDM: Local Copies versus Localized Copies" » April 15, 2006Demystifying SoR (System of Record) and MDMWhen Claudia Imhoff and Shawn Rogers and I got together for lunch the other day, we discussed this notion of SoR - it's a very interesting take. SoR has long been held as a single definition, and has been defined as residing in the source systems. Today, there are multiple definitions (3 to be exact) of SoR. Particularly since MDM evokes new notions of what SoR means to the business, as does a compliant and auditable enterprise warehouse. In this entry I'll walk through the multiple definitions of SoR. In my MDM night course in August at TDWI (2006, San Diego) I'll be discussing many of these things. Continue reading "Demystifying SoR (System of Record) and MDM" » April 14, 2006MDM: Deciphering Vendor HypeI've been blogging about MDM for a while now, and in my last entry I defined what Master Data and Master Metadata should be. By the way, both of those definitions along with the entry has been certified by Bill Inmon, and Clive Finkelstein as the standard definitions for MDM. In my sense of adventure I decided to take a look at 10 different vendors, what they claim MDM to be, how they define it (if they define it), and how they claim to implement it. What I discovered is not that shocking, MDM SOFTWARE: BUYER BE-WARE!! WARNING: THIS ENTRY IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART, IT IS MY BIASED OPINION ON WHAT MDM REALLY IS VERSUS WHAT VENDORS CLAIM IT TO BE. I'm not saying that vendors are all wrong or bad, quite the contrary - I'm saying that while Master data vendors have good software and provide ROI, not all solutions are built to meet your needs, and the marketing hype would have you believe otherwise. Continue reading "MDM: Deciphering Vendor Hype" » April 7, 2006Clarifying MDM - Setting StandardsI've had a lot of great feedback on the MDM blogs that I've been adding lately, and one kind individual sent me an email asking for a couple of things, including a definition, a practical criteria, a practical taxonomy, and to keep the picture simple enough for organizations to use. In this entry I will do my best to offer my *opinion* on the subject, I am open to comments, corrections, and thoughts from all of you - again, this will be only my opinion. Please note that my opinion is biased towards compliance, accountability of data, traceability, and accountability of business users and arises from my experiences with SEI/CMM, PMP, Six Sigma, TQM, BPR, Lean Initiatives and Cycle Time Reduction. I can't wait to hear back from you. Continue reading "Clarifying MDM - Setting Standards" » April 3, 2006Understanding MDM: Rough Seas and Muddy WaterI recently blogged on this subject, and then I asked my friends in the industry what they thought MDM meant to them. Not surprisingly, I received a number of different answers. I'll post their answers in this entry, and then discuss what I believe MDM to be. David Loshin recently wrote a new article on MDM and the basics of MDM, some of which I agree with, other parts I disagree with - I'll post here what my thoughts are on this subject as well. In the next blog entry we'll dive a little deeper and work at defining specifics for Master Data. Continue reading "Understanding MDM: Rough Seas and Muddy Water" » March 21, 2006Demystifying the MDM definitionMDM = Master Data Management, why should you care what it means? There are many vendors out there who've defined which part of MDM they implement, unfortunately they've called it MDM; it's just one piece of MDM that they are tackling. MDM or true Master Data Management is a much larger umbrella than just "master conformed dimensions", or "Master lists of quality/cleansed information." MDM includes the term: Data Management and we all agree (at least for the most part) that Data Management is all encompassing right? So why the fuss over defining such narrow implementations and then titling them MDM? Continue reading "Demystifying the MDM definition" » March 13, 2006Does MDM include Data Visualization?From where I stand (ok - sit).... I was on a plane this morning, and had the opportunity to view the captain’s cockpit for a brief while, while they ran through some of their pre-flight checks. As usual, my mind began to wander and ask the "what-if" questions, what if they didn't have a history of best-practices, how would they know what to check for pre-flight? Are all the gauges real-time or do some gauges offer "historical" data? How many of these gauges "manage data" for a single context? And then it hit me, all the gauges and knobs are really a "visualization" of the information they need to prepare for flight, fly, land, and do all the things a captain and co-captain need to do to move an air-plane through the air safely. This entry is more about unanswered questions than it is about speculation. I'd love to hear about your experiences as management, executive level, or otherwise - and what you might do in this situation. Continue reading "Does MDM include Data Visualization?" » March 7, 2006Is it time to re-define your Data Warehouse?I've commented in the past on my definition of the data warehouse, and recently, based on that definition I've been commenting on Master Data Management. In this blog I take a step back, and post the pro's and con's of constructing a compliant (active) data warehouse. I would love to have everyone weigh in, and tell us what kind of a data warehouse your organization is implementing and why. I'd like to clear the air and see if compliance within a data warehouse is really an issue for the enterprise. What exactly does a COMPLIANT data warehouse mean to you? Please tell us, we'd love to hear about it. Continue reading "Is it time to re-define your Data Warehouse?" » February 28, 2006MDM Part Deux (II)My last post generated some great responses, ranging from Master Data Management as MDM philosophy to MDM Data Marts as "better than gospel" or better than system of record on the source system. In this entry I will take a look at MDM in a little more detail, and try to answer my view points on some of the issues raised in the responses. First, thank-you to all those who are responding, I enjoy reading your thoughts. Continue reading "MDM Part Deux (II)" » February 7, 2006Master Data Management - Just Another Mart?Ok, we've all heard the term: MDM or master Data Management, but what the heck does it mean? My opinion is different than most, and in my search for the ultimate compliant warehouse I constantly battle with new acronyms... What EXACTLY is MDM? What about CDI (customer data integration)? Ok, how about these: PDM, BAM, BPR, LI, CRM, ERP, SEI, CMM, PMP, HIPPA, SARBOX, and so on? Well, I went overboard again (oh happy days...) Acronym soup is nothing new to me, I've been in the industry for over 15 years, been through the 80's and the Business Process Reengineering (BPR), also known as Lean Initiatives (LI), Six Sigma quality improvements, and ISO (international Standards Organization) setup. Now comes BAM (business Activity management), MDM (master Data Management), CDI (customer Data Integration), PDM (parts data management), SCM (supply chain management), CML (customer Master Lists), and so on... Maybe one day we will realize that some of these acronyms are just new names for OLD (but valid) business goals. In this case, it's all about the business management, better quality, and shorter lead times, reduced overhead and increased revenue - after all, if I'm not making money, then why am I in business? In this entry I will focus on MDM and explore just what it is. Continue reading "Master Data Management - Just Another Mart?" » January 24, 2006System of Registries and your Master DataIt is vital in any EII implementation to MANAGE YOUR METADATA. Well, what the heck does that mean? That's a big definition, but it certainly encompasses the ability to manage your services from a GUI perspective, manage the interaction of the API's under the covers, and the accessibility of the EII queries. At a process level it may mean to handle your web-services with ease. Continue reading "System of Registries and your Master Data" » October 18, 2005Data to Information, Architectural Roles for BusinessDave Wells, Director of Education, TDWI and I have had several discussions on this topic: Turning your Data In to Business Information In light of this discussion we discussed the Business Dimensions and Business points of pivoting which take place when layering the data for presentation. Data is often overlaid with additional business dimensions to make it usable. I'm not talking about the technical dimensions that we produce within the data marts, I'm talking about individual columns labeled as dimensional aspects of the data. Continue reading "Data to Information, Architectural Roles for Business" » September 27, 2005Between Inmon and Kimball DesignWant to break down the barriers? Tired of "taking sides" when you don't have to? In this blog I explore a modeling technique called the Data Vault (no it doesn't have to do with security or locking your data away). This technique sits squarely between Inmon 3rd normal form warehouse and Kimball Star Schema design as a warehouse. This modeling technique is comprised of the best-of-breed from both designs and is built to overcome limitations of the adaptations made to each data modeling architecture; specifically with regards to data warehousing. Continue reading "Between Inmon and Kimball Design" » September 13, 2005Nanotech lessons for Data ModelersWe could learn A LOT about information modeling from the nano molecular levels if we only paid attention. Self-assembly at the nanoscale provides many clues about how we should model our information systems as they grow. This blog entry highlights self assembly and its attributes: repeatable, consistent, and reliable. "Although man's understanding of how to build and control molecular machines is still at an early stage, nanoscale science and engineering could have a life-enhancing impact on human society comparable in extent to that of electricity, the steam engine, the transistor and the Internet." -- Professor David Leigh, Edinburgh University Continue reading "Nanotech lessons for Data Modelers" » September 8, 2005Data Modeling may also be stuck in 1985!In my blog: "Stuck in 1985", I discuss the nature of graphing, and how I believe the current BI Reporting vendors aren't doing enough to represent the data for visual recognition. There's a flip side or an underside to this current as well. The question I'm driving here is: Is accurate data visualization driven by data modeling architecture of the warehouse behind the scenes? I would tend to say YES, it is. In this blog, we explore this notion a bit more in depth. Take a look and let me know what you think... Continue reading "Data Modeling may also be stuck in 1985!" » July 13, 20053-D Visualization of Data ModelsIn the world of Nanotech, chemistry, biology and medicine we already have 3-D modeling capabilities for everything from Neurons to Chemical compounds to molecular structures. The business users in these areas are already manipulating their own structures, producing "fly-throughs" and interactive mappings of their modeling world. Why then doesn't the BI community have the same? Why must our business users and our data modelers be stuck in the stone age? What is with the standard and traditional 2D modeling approaches of today’s' data modeling tools and BI Query Tools? Continue reading "3-D Visualization of Data Models" » April 27, 2005Architecture, Standards, and BusinessOn one of my last blogs, I received an interesting comment. I've requested via email, clarification of the term "redundant synonyms", and am hopeful that I will yet receive a reply. However, I wish to expound a little bit on some of the nature of architecture and design, in terms of what I've seen and worked through in the past 13 years in the industry. In this blog, I will explore deeper, the business meaning - having clear, consistent, and repeatable design architecture. The methods of applying standards to data modeling are also discussed here. Continue reading "Architecture, Standards, and Business" » Automated Enterprise Data Warehouse ModelingIn my last blog in this category, I discussed repeatable architecture, and repeatable process to build a solid foundational enterprise architecture. I hope I was not giving the message out that the model elements must be repeated, for that is not the case. Data modeling is definitely a cross-combination of understanding the business need (the practitioner) and their ability to represent the business in a structured format. NOTE: This is a biased blog entry, based on a new data modeling technique called the Data Vault. I'll be talking more about the architecture in coming blogs. However, I believe that with an integrated non-aggregated, low-level detail architecture, there is a mechanism by which to achieve a standard data modeling architecture. Particularly when it comes to "integrating" different enterprises, why else would something like Universal Data Models ever have taken off? Continue reading "Automated Enterprise Data Warehouse Modeling" » April 13, 2005It's Business Modeling, not Data Modeling.Whether or not it's an IT shop, or a business user - its critical to change the paradigm of thinking to Business Modeling. In the physical notion of storing data, IT is data modeling - however it should all be based on business modeling efforts. There has been a divergence between the way business gets done, and the models that house the data for the business. This is causing severe friction, particularly when businesses go to make a change. Continue reading "It's Business Modeling, not Data Modeling." » April 8, 2005Data Modeling is vital to successful Business practicesIs your business growing? Are you capturing more data every day? Is your business Nimble enough to stay competitive? Being nimble anymore has nothing to do with being small; while that may still be an advantage, even some small businesses have politics and misguided business practices, but rarely is it written that some of these things stem directly from the way we build our data/information models within our information stores. With the advent of SOA, it's not just warehousing anymore, it's data integration, aggregation, conglomeration across the enterprise to a SINGLE data copy of information. Hopefully the models we build to house this information free us to change the business, rather than constrain us from making necessary changes. Continue reading "Data Modeling is vital to successful Business practices" » |
Comprehensive resources for business intelligence and data warehousing professionals.
NETWORK WEBSITES:
BeyeSEARCH | BeyeBLOGS | BeyeRESEARCH | TDAN.com | BeyeNETWORK
Press Releases | About Us | Contact Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Media Kit
Copyright 2004 — 2008. Powell Media LLC. All rights reserved.
Business Intelligence Network™ is a trademark of Powell Media, LLC