Consolidating data attributes from multiple sources

When designing an MDM strategy, we need to determine what data attributes constitute the golden record, along with the source of the data attributes. Where multiple sources may contain the same attribute, it may be necessary to implement a cleansing and de-duplication process in order to ensure that the same data attribute values are preserved throughout the enterprise. Depending on the MDM implementation method being used, it may be necessary to allow any source system to facilitate the update of a data attribute to the golden record, which then invokes a process to push that update down to all source systems for that data attribute. Therefore, when implementing the golden record for the first time, data quality and classification are crucial, and so time should be given to a data cleansing, matching, and de-duplication strategy as part of the initial golden record population. It may then be wise to consider locking down the source...