In the past week, we have had a number of conversations with folks struggling with specific aspects of data integration for master data management. The main issue is that secondary users of what will eventually be master data do not always necessarily bound to abide by the primary users' data definitions. For example, the concept of "customer" means something different to the sales department than it does to those in customer support.

The upshot is that as data element definitions are reinterpreted, the results of sums, counts, and other aggregations start to be skewed. Ultimately, resulting reports are inconsistent, leading to a need for reconcilations, then loss of trust in the master data asset.

One way to address this is a concerted effort to normalize semantics prior to executing the data consolidation. This may shake out semantic inconsistencies and reduce the need for reconciliations.

More importantly, it implies the need for best practices in developing master data models. To that end, I will be presenting a talk on Accelerating MDM Initiatives with Master Data Modeling at a webinar sponsored by Embarcadero on July 28th. Lots of folks have already signed up, and I hope that it will provide an open forum for discussing some critical issues regarding master data modeling.