Scenarios 01–05
1 — Two Customer IDs
Practice: CRM and Billing contain different IDs and slightly different names for what may be the same customer.
Decision key:
1. Primary problem: Master Data identity across systems.
2. Leading KA: Reference & Master Data.
3. Supporting: Data Quality preparation, identifier management, integration, governance.
4. Roles: MDM specialist, Data Steward, source owners, governance.
5. Best action: standardize relevant attributes, perform entity resolution, assign/maintain Global ID, preserve Source-ID X-Refs and match history.
6. Weaker: Reference crosswalk—it maps controlled representations but cannot decide whether two customers are the same entity.
7. Changed fact: if the issue is Active/Inactive/Pending, shift to Reference Data management.
Source: pp. 332–347.
2 — Country Codes Differ
Practice: One system stores US, another USA, another 840.
Decision key:
1. Problem: Reference representation/translation.
2. Leading: Reference & Master Data.
3. Supporting: Metadata, DQ, governance, integration.
4. Roles: Reference Steward, architect/integration, governance, consumers.
5. Best: approve authoritative values and maintain a governed cross-reference with definitions/source/version Metadata.
6. Weaker: entity merge; no entity identity question exists.
7. Changed: uncertain customer identity → entity resolution.
Source: pp. 334–339, 353–357.
3 — Where Truth Starts vs Where Users Read
Practice: ERP creates Customer records; MDM hub publishes the enterprise view.
Decision key:
1. Problem: authority-role distinction.
2. Leading: Reference & Master Data.
3. Supporting: MDM architecture, sharing, governance.
4. Roles: source owner, MDM team, steward, architect.
5. Best: designate ERP SOR if it owns creation/maintenance; hub System of Reference/Trusted Source for consumption.
6. Weaker: call every authoritative system SOR; authority is activity-specific.
7. Changed: hub takes all creation/updates → Transaction Hub and SOR.
Source: pp. 339–340, 349–351.
4 — Golden Record Disagreement
Practice: Marketing and Finance need different Customer perspectives; neither source is perfectly complete.
Decision key:
1. Problem: overclaiming certainty / confusing perspective with perfect truth.
2. Leading: Reference & Master Data.
3. Supporting: DQ, survivorship, governance, stewardship.
4. Roles: business/Data Stewards, governance, MDM, consumers.
5. Best: define trusted governed views/context-specific rules and document limitations; use Trusted Source language.
6. Weaker: force one universal perfect Golden Record solely for terminology consistency.
7. Changed: one reconciled entity record clearly best current representation → may call it Golden Record within Trusted Source, keeping DQ caveat.
Source: pp. 339–340, 345–346.
5 — Different People Merged
Practice: Two distinct Jane Smiths share one master identifier.
Decision key:
1. Problem: false-positive match.
2. Leading: Reference & Master Data.
3. Supporting: identifier management, history, stewardship, DQ.
4. Roles: steward, MDM/DQ specialist, source owners.
5. Best: unmerge, restore correct Global ID/X-Refs, preserve history, investigate cause, tune controls.
6. Weaker: delete one “duplicate”; they are distinct entities.
7. Changed: one real Jane remains under two IDs → false negative, then correct linking/merging after confirmation.
Source: pp. 343–347.