Your forecasts, purchasing and stock rely on item, supplier and bill-of-materials data. If nobody owns that data, it deteriorates, and every department compensates in its own way. I help business teams and IT organise the governance of this master data.
The 4 questions of data governance
- Who owns each piece of data?
- Which system is the reference (system of record)?
- What lifecycle: creation, update, retirement, with which approval workflow?
- What flow: how does the data travel from the system of record to the systems that use it?
From symptom to data
| Observed symptom | Data probably at fault | Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Stock-outs despite sufficient overall stock | Wrong supplier lead times | Orders released too late |
| Overstock on some items | Duplicate items across sites | Duplicate purchases, dormant stock |
| MRP proposals ignored | Outdated bills of materials or parameters | Manual corrections, loss of trust |
| Supplier disputes | Inconsistent terms or units | Late payments, friction |
Governance, quality, MDM tool: three different things
Governance sets the rules and responsibilities. Quality is measured with KPIs and controls. An MDM tool helps apply both. Starting with the tool, without governance, means automating the mess.
Experience at Sanofi
Sanofi (2024-2025): PMO of the Master Data Management programme, 30 of 60 plants, 25 consultants. Data owners, systems of record, lifecycle workflows and data flows defined. €15M stock reduction from identifying duplicate items and pooling purchases between plants, on top of other gains not quantified during the assignment. An AI documentation assistant put into production.
Frequently asked questions
Where should you start?
With the data that costs the most when it is wrong, often items and supplier lead times. A limited scope, named owners, a few KPIs: then expand.
Do you need an MDM tool?
Not necessarily at first. Rules and responsibilities come first. The tool becomes useful when volumes and the number of systems require it.
Who should own governance, the business or IT?
The business owns the content, IT owns the systems and flows. Governance organises how they work together.
Further reading
MRP proposals ignored: the tool is rarely the problem: the five master data items that derail an MRP, and where to start.
Let’s talk about your project
I am Jérôme Dumas, an independent supply chain and IT consultant based in Lyon, France, working on assignments across France and Europe.
Do you want to clarify data governance, clean up a master data repository or run a Master Data programme? Tell me about your context and challenges, and we will see together whether I can help.