Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
evident to the business users, when managing the
repositories, because the differences in the data models leads
to information on the factories becoming de-synchronized:
how can it be guaranteed that the MDM “product” has the
latest description of the factories?
Product
Transformation
Copy of Information
Factory
Factory
model #2
Factory
model #1
Product
Figure 7.1.
Absence of mutualization in the factory data model
The Factory data model with mutualization
At the opposite end of the scale, let us take a look at the
situation where the actions of the Enterprise Data Office has
lead to a mutualization of the Factory data model, valid for
both the business unit “Product management” and
“Manufacturing”. In this case, the data repository “Product”
presents to the user the information on the factories but in
terms of “manufacturing” reference and master data. There
is no longer a silo effect between the product description and
the description of the factories. One unified data model is
imposed on all the business units.
At the time of configuring a product, all the
characteristics of the factories are not accessible. Read-only
rights are managed by the MDM system which consequently
filters the presentation of the factory data.
Over time, the shared Factory data model can become
incompatible owing to evolving requirements. For example,
let us imagine that a business regulation imposes a
difference in the management of its offshore factories as
opposed to those on national soil. In the offshore factories a
group of additional data appears, such as specific criteria
