MDM is a niche area.It is one of the evolving component of the NetWeaver Stack . BW/BI is a reporting tool .What MDM does in conjunction with BI is ,MDM consolidates Master Records from different Sources and hands it over to BI for Reporting.
It Must be remebered that MDM dosesnt have any intelligence within.There is no coding within the MDM tool .It all works in drag and drop fashion.Since you have BI knowledge MDM is a good area for you to venture upon.
I am giving you a brief insight over MDM Capabilities.
MDM stands for Master Data Management.Master Data of an organization drives the Transactions .So Master Data quality directly influences the reporting quality.That is why Master Data Management has become such a prominent domain of expertise.
Organizational challenges are the people challenges the ones that are introduced as a by-product of changing the way people both manage and view information. There are 4 issues to be taken care of broadly.
The Strategic Vision
Data Ownership
Performance-Oriented Management
Change Management
Operational Challenges
Choosing to deploy a master data management program is a strategic decision that reverberates across the enterprise.
Just like the operational challenges of construction projects are finessed through proper planning and governance, the critical operational challenges of MDM involve instituting the appropriate oversight into a rapidly changing environment, including:
Data Quality Management
Data Standards Management
Data Governance
Data Integration
Technology Challenges
Master data management is not just software; it is a solution that embodies a management program, linking technology, principles, and policies. Once the governance infrastructures are in place, and the policies have been defined and endorsed within the enterprise, though, there are a number of technical hurdles that must also be cleared for a smooth migration to the MDM environment:
Selecting and MDM Architecture style
Transitioning to the new infrastructure
Performance
The IT scenario consists of the following scenario variants:
�� Master-data consolidation
Allows to identify identical master data objects within heterogeneous landscapes,
merge identical objects centrally, and provide the relevant key mapping information for
further use in business operations or analytics.
�� Master-data harmonizationOrganizations can cleanse master data on materials, retail articles, suppliers, and
customers and leverage the results to perform enterprise-wide analytics, such as
global spend analyses. Consolidated master data is then distributed to the connected
remote systems to streamline business operations based on high-quality data.
�� Central master-data managementOrganizations can consolidate and centrally manage their master data. They can
support company-wide quality standards by ensuring that central control of master
data begins as soon as the data is created.
