We asked Claude the following question as we continue to be baffled by the pursuit of “Single Source of Truth” for Master Data.
Who looks for a single source of truth? Who are the real users of the Master Data Management solution?
Claude’s reply below
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It’s a great question. There’s often a disconnect between those who sponsor MDM and those who use it daily to support operations.
Who Looks for “Single Source of Truth” (The Sponsors):
- IT Leadership/CIOs – Want to reduce system complexity and integration headaches
- Data & Analytics teams – Need clean data for reporting and AI initiatives
- C-suite executives – Frustrated by conflicting reports from different systems
- Compliance/Risk teams – Need to ensure regulatory requirements are met
- Finance leadership – Want accurate financial reporting and cost management
The Day-to-Day Users who Support Operations:
- Supply chain planners – Creating/updating part numbers, BOMs, supplier info
- Procurement teams – Managing vendor data, contracts, pricing
- Product managers – Setting up new SKUs, managing product hierarchies
- Sales operations – Maintaining customer data, pricing, product catalogs
- Manufacturing engineers – Managing specifications, routings, work centers
- Data stewards – Subject matter experts who validate and approve data changes
- Customer service reps – Looking up accurate product/customer information
The Reality: The “single source of truth” is often an IT/executive aspiration, but the success of MDM depends entirely on whether those frontline business users find the system helpful for their daily work. If it slows them down or feels bureaucratic, they’ll find workarounds.