Master Data Management in Practice: Achieving True Customer MDM

Data Management Maturity Level

While a business case for MDM will normally address one or more of the three reasons presented earlier, it is important to strengthen it with an accurate assessment of where the company is regarding the overall MDM spectrum. Two companies with the same business needs will not necessarily follow the same steps to get there because they might be at different maturity levels regarding what is necessary from an MDM practice perspective.

Several data governance maturity models exist and should be used as a frame of reference. Even though data governance in itself is just one of the components in MDM, it is perhaps the most pervasive one since it overlooks all other activities within MDM. That means a data governance maturity model can be used as guidance to understand where a company is and where it should be regarding the management of data as a strategic asset.

Multiple MDM vendors have their own maturity models, but most of the time their models can be used independently from their product lines. Besides, there are models from neutral companies such as Gartner, Data Management Association (DAMA), and the Data Governance Institute (DGI). “Data Governance Part II: Maturity Models—A Path to Progress,”² a paper authored by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO), provides a good overview into data governance maturity models, and a closer look into several existing models by multiple vendors.

The end state of a data governance ...