Data Governance – the Big Theme from the Fall 2007 CDI-MDM Summit
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What an exciting week we had!
First, the Siperian users’ conference on Tuesday, followed by the CDI-MDM Summit in New York on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
The biggest theme reiterated by the majority of speakers throughout the week for a successful MDM implementation was stated early on Tuesday by Anurag Wadehra of Siperian – “Data Governance is the critical process to making MDM work”.
In as many different ways that success through Governance could be stated throughout the week, it was. What was most interesting to us was how different folks arrived at the importance of Governance. Millenium Pharmaceuticals outsourced their MDM initiative to Cognizant and realized that Governance had slipped through the cracks on the first phase of implementation. Jennifer Lewis stated that they had added six months to the timeline for the next phase to allow for Data Governance.
Nancy Northrup of Honeywell focused on Data Governance from the outset and had a very effective program of distributed Data Stewards in place. “The key”, stated Nancy, “is not to try and boil the ocean”, who adoped the LEAN manufacturing concepts from Toyota’s production system.
Getting the word out on the “lessons learned” from MDM/CDI implementations by different companies, the chief lesson being Data Governance, is the first main take-away for me from the week at the two MDM conferences.
More Thoughts on the CDI-MDM Summit
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The Fall 2007 CDI-MDM Summit has wrapped up. It seemed even more intense than the Spring ’07 conference. More consulting firms and software vendors exhibiting, more real world case studies from companies that have implemented or are implementing MDM solutions. More hallway conversations and networking. More activity overall …
This is great for the MDM market place. Is there room for both Gartner and The CDI-MDM Institute to have conferences on this topic? My feeling is yes. Just like there’s an Oracle OpenWorld conference in the fall and an Oracle Applications User Group conference in the spring. They both come at the same subject matter from a different perspective. With Oracle, it’s obvious they’re in control of the agenda and selling more Oracle products is their goal. With OAUG, it’s independent from Oracle, and the presentations are much more “user to user”, with some consulting firms’ presentations mixed in.
I’m not sure how it will shake out between Gartner and The CDI-MDM Institute, but I know that I really enjoyed the conference that Aaron Zorne and SourceMedia put on this year. You can always find little things that need improving at any conference, but overall, the presentations were spot on, the logistics were fine, and the mood of the conference was very upbeat.
I particularly enjoyed:
There was a tie for my favorite presentation of the entire conference between:
We weren’t able to stay for the post-conference workshops, as we had to catch a train back to Boston. But overall, another fantastic conference from The CDI-MDM Institute and SourceMedia.
Impressions from the CDI-MDM Summit
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Well, the first day of the CDI-MDM Summit is behind us.
I always enjoy the conferences that Aaron Zornes and SourceMedia put on. I attended and spoke at both of the U.S. CDI-MDM Summit conference in 2006, and the Spring 2007 conference as well.
Yesterday’s pre-conference workshop by David Loshin was very useful. The rest of the agenda is a bit of a blur, but I particularly enjoyed Aaron’s keynote, the session by Greg Burke from De Lange Landen / Rabobank and the Siperian session at the end of the day.
It was great seeing my former colleagues from D&B, and with their acquisition of Purisma last week, there was a lot of discussion on what that means for the MDM market in general and for D&B and Purisma in particular. I think it’s a great strategic fit and the acquisition neatly solves a product gap for D&B.
I’m looking forward to today’s sessions. These conferences are a lot like speed dating – very fast, intense and (potentially) rewarding.
I’ll try to provide a few more updates, perhaps from my mobile phone, during the conference, with more analysis to come next week.
David Loshin’s Workshop at the CDI-MDM Summit
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This morning, Tim O’Sullivan and I attended David Loshin’s session on “Data Profiling, Data Governance, and Data Quality for Master Data Governance”.
I really enjoyed it. Being a self-admitted “data geek”, it was a great review, and I learned a few new things.
Given that Data Quality is an important component of a successful MDM program, I’m always surprised by how little attention it gets in corporate America.
I don’t have the URL of David’s blog handy, but his main web site is www.knowledge-integrity.com.
Highly recommended!
Last Call for OAUG Papers
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The deadline for submitting a paper to the Collaborate 2008 conference of the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG) is 11:59 pm Eastern time TODAY!
Gaurav Arora and myself have both submitted our own papers. Andrew Kapochunas from D&B submitted one that he and I will do together. And Mani Kumar Manda, Jack Dally and I submitted an idea for a panel discussion together.
But today’s the last day to submit a paper idea. If you’ve got some expertise to share on Oracle’s Master Data Management platforms (Oracle Customer Hub, Oracle Product Hub, Hyperion Data Relationship Management), please submit a paper!
Looking forward to seeing a lot of you in New York next week at the CDI-MDM Summit, and at the OAUG Conference in Denver next April.
CDI-MDM Summit
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Tim O’Sullivan and I are really looking forward to the CDI-MDM Summit next week in New York.
We’ve been looking over the agenda and it looks great. There are a lot of very good sessions planned. I’ve spoken at all three of the last CDI-MDM Summits in the U.S., so it will be kind of nice to be attending this conference without having to speak at it.
There’s a lot going on in the CDI-MDM space right now, and I’m really looking forward to seeing a lot of friends, former colleagues and industry luminaries, all in one place at the same time. There’s still a feeling of cameraderie at this event that I really like, and people are very willing to share their experiences and best practices with one another.
It’s a bit of bad scheduling that it’s being held at almost the same time as the Oracle OpenWorld conference in San Francisco. I’ve spoken at OpenWorld the last several years too. I enjoy it as well, but it’s gotten so BIG. Oracle practically takes over the whole city of San Francisco for the duration of the OpenWorld conference.
The New York CDI-MDM Summit conference last year was a lot of fun. We’re really looking forward to it this year. And one reason is that I’m sure it will give us a lot to write about in this blog in the coming weeks.
The Hub Solution Designs team will take careful notes during the conference and will share them here. And perhaps I can coax Tim O’Sullivan into writing his first blog posting as well!
MDM and the Oracle Applications User Group
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Tonight, Hub Solution Designs joined the Oracle Applications User Group (OAUG).
I’ve been an OAUG member at previous companies since 1995, and have always found it a great organization. The idea of having a strong, independent Oracle Applications users group makes a lot of sense.
Oracle’s a great company, and I enjoy the Oracle OpenWorld conference. But having a “by the users, for the users” organization adds a lot of value, and I’ve learned a lot at the OAUG conferences over the years.
Here’s a brief description of the OAUG from http://www.oaug.org/about/index.html:
The Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG) is a global organization that enhances the capabilities of real Oracle users in their day-to-day use and management of the growing family of Oracle Applications. Formed in 1990, the OAUG is one of the software industry’s most successful user groups and speaks with one voice for the family of Oracle Applications users.
The OAUG provides access to a global knowledgebase of solutions to its members, offers unique networking opportunities within a global user community, creating meaningful connections with other users and Oracle Corporation.
The OAUG is committed to enhancing the return on investment on the family of Oracle Applications* for its members through education, professional development and influencing product strategy.
Join the OAUG’s global community of users, managers, executives and third-party solution providers to increase productivity and maximize the return on investment in Oracle Applications.
* The family of Oracle Applications continues to grow. As new brands and products are integrated, the OAUG will work to serve new members through special interest groups and user education opportunities. Most importantly, newly acquired technologies will be welcomed to participate in councils dealing with Oracle’s future product strategies.
I’ve been a member of the OAUG Education Committee for a couple of years now, managing the Master Data Management “area of focus” on that committee.
By the way, if you’re a successful user of (or an expert on) Oracle’s Trading Community Architecture, Customer Data Hub or Siebel Universal Customer Master, please submit a paper by going to www.oaug.org/conferencesandeducation/conferences/2008/collaborate08/.
The Call for Papers has been extended to 11:59 pm Eastern on Fri. November 9th (yes, that’s THIS Friday).
Last year, Customer Data Integration and Master Data Management was included in the Customer Relationship Management track. In 2008, MDM will have its own dedicated track at the annual OAUG conference for the first time.
My vision for MDM and the Oracle Applications User Group is to make the MDM track at the annual OAUG conference a robust source of information from leading practioners and end user companies on Oracle’s Master Data Management products.
Hub Solution Designs is engaging in partnerships with IBM, SAP, Siperian, D&B/Purisma, Initiate Systems and others. We are the leading source of management consulting and systems integration expertise on Master Data Management, and are able to be objective about MDM products through relationships with all of the leading MDM vendors.
But because of our roots in the Oracle community for the past twelve years, I expect to stay involved with Oracle itself and the Oracle Applications User Group for many years to come.
