How Microsoft Dynamics AX customers can shape up for the demands of master data management (MDM)

Master data management (MDM) can be a key initiative for trusted data, efficient business  processes, and strategic decisions.  But it can also cause a lot of headaches if not managed correctly.

Given the MDM capabilities coming in the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 release, what are some of the factors that go into successfully applying the technology to your organization's data and systems?

In The 8 Worst Practices in Master Data Management and How to Avoid Them, Dan Power, founder and president at Hub Designs, calls MDM a key foundation for trusted data and more efficient business processes. "It touches almost every important activity in a company," Power writes. "Using this data strategically can differentiate companies from their competitors. Overall, how well an enterprise manages master data is a reflection of how well it operates and achieves its objectives, and how quickly it can respond to change."

Defined by Gartner as a technology-enabled discipline in which business and IT work together to ensure the uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency, and accountability of the enterprise's official shared master data assets, MDM isn't always easy to implement or orchestrate. Issues like executive sponsors that go MIA halfway through the project, overlooking the business case, failing to plan for organizational and cultural change, and not using metrics to measure success can all wreak havoc on a successful MDM implementation. 

One of the biggest MDM mistakes that companies make, according to Powers, is not starting on the ...