Mens Et Opera - Reloaded

OK there is a big difference between MDM and PIM. Apparently not everyone agrees.  Regardless, things can become even more confusing when analysts, vendors, consultants, and academics all give you their perspective on what MDM and/or PIM really is. I know it’s hard to sort through it. But let’s try to keep it very simple. Note 1 : my apology to the experts to leave out important aspects Note 2 : I took inspiration for the example below by reading "Master Data Management", written by the well-respected David Loshin. Now, take the following transaction from a generic order fulfillment system: I am sure you have identified the three master data domains in this transaction: Customer: Michele M. Arpaia Product: Seat 15B (what about Flight 238?) Location: Sydney, SYD, Melbourne, MEL Can you see the beauty of MDM? Ideally, every transaction (occurring everywhere in your organization) relies on accurate, consistent, fresh, and complete master d...

It must be my philosophical bend but I love (almost) everything that is meta , in particular I love metaphysics. This allows me to define metadata in a slightly different fashion. In fact, the prefix meta denotes something that is beyond or transcends the physical contingency of an object. Now what is data? David Loshin authoritatively defines data as “…a collection of raw value elements or facts used for calculating, reasoning, or measuring." [1]   In other words, a piece of data represents an actual, physical, and existing entity. For example, I am 1.75m tall. This is a fact expressed via numerical representation (and obviously can also be digitally coded). The adjective ‘tall’ provides important contextual information without it, the piece of data (1.75) would be meaningless. This is metadata. To further the example, if I add that I am second to my brother, I will start depicting a picture of a family of at least 4 people where my brother is the tallest and I am taller th...