Over the past few months I have spent a significant amount of time talking to both vendors and customers about MDM implementation. It's interesting to note that there are some fairly consistent messages coming out of these discussions.

The first thing I found is that there are a significant number of MDM projects in the works This is especially the case in Europe. Although many of these projects focus on specific types of master data like customers and products, there are also a reasonable number of projects where the MDM solution addresses multiple master data business entities.

One issue that everyone points out is the complexity involved in handling the business rules for master data hierarchies and relationships.

Both vendors and customers alike also say that hub products that simply coordinate master data changes across systems break down when the the number of systems of entry is more than about 3 or 4. Coordinating the business rules becomes an impossible task when there are a large number of systems of entry. To solve this problem customers are asking for hubs that support persistent master data stores and hubs that can become the system of entry.

Most organizations are beginning to realize they will need to move the master data systems of entry to the MDM system over a period of time. Vendors are busy revamping their products to support this.