Similar to the consolidated golden record implementation method briefly explained previously, MDM changes can happen in both the golden record system and any source system for master data. While this approach can take longer to implement, data can be mastered in the golden record system or any of the master data source systems. As data is synchronized, the quality in any given system is consistent. Access to quality data is therefore improved, as users in a given company department may only use one system and not necessarily the golden record system. The same cost considerations for the implementation of processes using a middleware tool would apply here. This scenario is perhaps useful in scenarios where an organization may have specialist or legacy applications used by certain functions. Take an organization with a specialist system that is used for a critical function and is actively used by a select group of users as their only system given the nature of their job, yet they need to see the golden record of the customer. This scenario would therefore apply because the system may have updates applied to it that need to make their way back up to Salesforce. Thisparallel or coexistence of the golden record may be necessary for the scenarios where certain applications need to have the same quality golden record information as Salesforce.
Each implementation method has its own merits and may be suitable depending on a number of factors. As architects, it is our job to advise according to the goals and strategic initiatives of the organization, giving consideration to maintainability.
Now we know what MDM is, and the theory behind how to implement it, let’s turn our attention to MDM and Salesforce. Typically, Salesforce is implemented to bring together data from a company’s enterprise in order to break down information silos and provide a consistent view of the data across various business units or departments. Salesforce is therefore a de facto source of truth and immediately becomes the data master when implemented in such scenarios. Our single source of truth would therefore exist in Salesforce.
Salesforce almost always needs to communicate data changes with one or more systems. Therefore, implementing a middleware system is typically used to facilitate the communication and data field mapping between connected systems that constitute our golden record in Salesforce. As part of the Salesforce system design, the produced data dictionary for the objects and fields created in Salesforce can be passed to the middleware team in order to facilitate the data mapping in order to broker data updates between Salesforce and connected systems.
The initial data migration exercise to Salesforce should be used as the point in which the single source of truth for a given record is constructed from the source systems, cleansed, de-duplicated, and enriched as required or appropriate prior to loading into Salesforce and then turning on the integration for changes to only be enacted in connected source systems after the go-live date.
Now we know what MDM is, let’s explore the concept of the single source of truth in more detail.
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