How to complete the MDM requirements-gathering analysis process

The fact that you're bringing up end-users implies that you'll be using master data for analytics and reporting. If you "only" need master data management (MDM) for analytics, then your choices are a lot easier than if other systems will also be consuming master data. Your existing extract, transform and load (ETL) and data quality tools might be enough to solve the problem.

But given the diversity of your IT environment, I doubt it. My suggestion is to bite the bullet and undergo a requirements-gathering activity. Technical people hate to hear consultants recommend deliberate requirements and scoping activities because they think we're just trying to line our pockets. They want to go straight to matches-per-hour and probabilistic-versus-deterministic discussions. But trust me: This approach will help you determine the scope of your data services, as well as some of the critical functionality. Once you do that, engaging specific vendors will be a lot more straightforward and you'll save a lot of time and, probably, money.

When you're ready to talk to vendors, I recommend browsing SearchDataManagement.com and looking at the Product of the Year winners* in the data integration and MDM categories. These vendors will be a natural starting point for your conversations. And if you've taken my advice and determined your requirements before you've engaged them, they'll like you, they'll really like you.

* Editor's note: SearchDataManagement.com will be announcing the Products of the Year winners in spring 2009.