Item Master Data Rationalization
A 26-page information rich whitepaper by META Group on the business benefits, challenges and best practices of Material Master Data Management

Business executives depend on reliable reporting of operational and financial activities to guide their decisions. The US government even mandates reliable and accurate reporting under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). The underlying enabler to meet the demands of business executives and the government is the master data found in enterprise software systems. Master data represents the items a company buys, the products it sell, suppliers it manages and the customers it has.

When the master data is inaccurate, out-of-date, or duplicated, business processes magnify and propagate these errors, and the company's financial and operational results are affected. The results are profound. Shareholders lose their confidence and market capitalization falls. Executives begin to manage by instinct rather than from facts and results suffer.