PowerPoint presentations on these topics are available via Slideshare here.
What is RDM (reference data management)?
- Reference data is the Rosetta Stone-like capability for enterprise and departmental applications to understand and work with one another (see below – “Reference Data Working Definition” for the general purpose Wikipedia definition. These look-up or code tables are typically used in a “read only” manner by the referencing applications. Unfortunately, due to the nature of IT application development and the reliance upon off-the-shelf application systems, reference data is all too often isolated in silos as such reference data exists in many different systems in the typical corporate enterprise architecture. Moreover, each application typically has a different subset, format and internal representation because there are usually no agreed upon internal standards for specific reference tables (and their semantics or taxonomies).
- Reference Data Working Definition
(courtesy Wikipedia)
- “Reference data is data that defines the set of permissible values to be used by other data fields. Reference data gains in value when it is widely re-used and widely referenced. Typically, it does not change overly much in terms of definition (apart from occasional revisions). Reference data often is defined by standards organizations (such as country codes as defined in ISO 3166-1). Typical examples of reference data are: Units of measure, Country codes, Corporate codes, Conversion rates (currency, weight, temperature, etc.), Calendar and calendar constraints. Reference data should be distinguished from master data, which represents key business entities such as customers and materials in all the necessary detail (e.g., for customers: number, name, address, and date of account creation). In contrast, reference data usually consists only of a list of permissible values and attached textual descriptions.”
- “Reference data is data that defines the set of permissible values to be used by other data fields. Reference data gains in value when it is widely re-used and widely referenced. Typically, it does not change overly much in terms of definition (apart from occasional revisions). Reference data often is defined by standards organizations (such as country codes as defined in ISO 3166-1). Typical examples of reference data are: Units of measure, Country codes, Corporate codes, Conversion rates (currency, weight, temperature, etc.), Calendar and calendar constraints. Reference data should be distinguished from master data, which represents key business entities such as customers and materials in all the necessary detail (e.g., for customers: number, name, address, and date of account creation). In contrast, reference data usually consists only of a list of permissible values and attached textual descriptions.”
Why RDM?
Simple as that sounds, the impact of poor or non-existent reference data management (RDM) is profound. Errors in reference data will ripple outwards affecting quality of master data in each domain, which in turn affects quality in all dependent transactional systems. Because reference data is used to drive key business processes and application logic, errors in reference data can have a major negative and multiplicative business impact. Mismatches in reference data impact on data quality affect the integrity of BI reports and also are a common source of application integration failure (see Figure 2 “The ‘Tsunami Effect’ of *Bad* Reference Data). Additionally, management of such reference data is needed in both operational and analytical MDM use cases where such capability often used to provide attributes, hierarchies and KPIs.Key Multi-Domain RDM Vendors
Within the realm of commercial RDM solutions, there are two main families: "multi-domain RDM," and "real-time RDM". "Multi-domain RDM" solutions are non-industry specific solutions that can span functional areas (finance, risk and compliance, human resources) and content types (ISO country codes, and other non-volatile reference data to be mastered and shared). "Real-time RDM" is typically a very high performance solution for use in the capital markets industry (brokers, asset managers, and securities services firms) as well as command and control military/intelligence markets.
Ataccama Reference Data Manager; Collibra Reference Data Accelerator; InfoSphere Reference Data Management (RDM Hub); Informatica RDM Accelerator; Kalido; Microsoft RDM (MS EXCEL Add-In for MDS, Profisee); Oracle Hyperion DRM; Orchestra Networks EBX5; Software AG WebMethods OneData; Teradata LDRM ...
