EXPERT RESPONSE
One of the core reasons for deploying MDM is to reduce duplication of effort by ensuring that there is a single version of the truth against which all applications and functions can operate. There is no doubt that older versions of R/3 have some of these functions already built-in, and indeed the need for master data and its propagation across the enterprise has been around for a long time, and has been tackled in some fashion or other by R/3 and many other products for equally as long.
What is supposed to be different about MDM is that capturing the values once should eliminate the need to repeat the effort for every application and new piece of functionality. But that may not be the case for every module and every version. However, in the long run MDM should provide enough overall enterprise value that the few instances when some duplication of effort is needed will not be too much of a burden.
|
