In-Depth

Free Online Self-assessment Helps BI Professionals Gauge MDM Readiness

Is your organization ready to adopt and deploy master data management?

• By James E. Powell
• 01/14/2009

Which pieces of a comprehensive master data management strategy are ready at your company and which need improvement? The MDM Readiness Assessment Tool, produced by TDWI and Baseline Consulting, may hold the answer.

The online self-assessment for master data management poses questions in eight distinct categories, summarizes the results in six diverse dimensions (data quality, change management, processing, rules and policies, data access, and navigation), and provides scores and explanations that indicate an enterprise’s overall MDM progress. The tool helps participants identify the strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed. The survey results also include a comparison of the participant’s results with those of other respondents.

The survey, which takes about 30 minutes to complete, was created by Baseline partners Jill Dyché and Evan Levy and is based on a comprehensive MDM Readiness service the firm provides to its clients.

Says Dyché, “The typical MDM readiness engagement lasts around eight to ten weeks. While not a substitute for that kind of comprehensive, on-site due diligence, the MDM Self-Assessment will give survey-takers a multi-dimensional look of their progress toward building a sustainable master data framework.” In addition to the scores and explanations, survey takers will receive a 22-page white paper on the five levels of MDM maturity authored by Dyché and Levy.

The assessment (http://portals.tdwi.org/MDMReadiness) will be available through mid-March 2009. Participants can revisit the site until then to compare their results with a growing pool of respondents worldwide.