mStart implemented IBM Master Data Management within its group to empower IT and business users to drive value from data

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Getting relevant information from company’s data via trustworthy network is for sure the topic on the table of almost each Customer Relationship Management (CRM) director no matter of the industry.

It’s evident – data volumes will continue to grow and today’s fast changing business and market conditions, will force organizations to develop and innovate quicker than ever before.

Moreover, in cases where organizations have a complex data management systems including different products, users, databases and data fragmented across silos – data experts will not have an easy task. Probably the first thing they will need to do is to rethink and reinvent their data management strategies and put data to work 24×7.

We at mStart – which is one of the leading business-technology companies in Croatia and in the Adriatic region – did several successful „data projects“ to help companies in different sectors resolve their business challenges and help them grow their business efficiently.

From our beginnings we successfully partnered with IBM and one of the recent projects we did is implementation of IBM Master Data Management system in Fortenova Group – one of the largest companies in Southeast Europe employs more than 50,000 people and operates in three core businesses: Retail & Wholesale, Food and Agriculture, having more than 1 million customers daily and more than 5 Eur billion revenue.

The idea was to establish an effective Data Management system which will join together 26 of our subsidiaries as well as business and IT functions into single system to provide trusted 360 degree view of data across the Group. In a nutshell, we were not able to use excel spreadsheets any more to match for example our business partners, this process was not efficient and it was time-consuming. We decided to launch a Master Data Management (MDM) project to get a unified view of all our partners and ability to report on different financial records like account receivables/invoice status, liabilities, ..

We implemented IBM MDM solution which provided all of this as well as greater coordination and data governance to increase efficiency and facilitate enterprise-wide reporting to help reduce operational costs.

In short, here is the summary of the project with technical overview and achieved benefits:

Business requirement

Together with points mentioned above, the Group grew fast through acquisitions and during expansion in different business lines legacy IT systems continue to exist. Also organizationally we didn’t have business team dedicated to support master data processes on the Group level. Having that in mind the best option was to chose the consolidation style method.

With a consolidation style, the master data is generally consolidated from multiple sources in the hub to create a single version of truth, often known as the golden record. A golden record is stored in the central hub and used for reporting and reference. However, any updates made to the master data are then applied to the original sources. Master data management (MDM) is software that enables uniformity, accuracy, stewardship, semantic consistency and accountability of an enterprise’s data assets.

Project

As mentioned earlier the main goal of this project was to design a reporting solution for business functions and to recognize relevant master data attributes and update those attributes in MDM application. Therefore prerequisite is to create a central, database-based system of records for customer, supplier, account and cost center master data. With implemented IBM MDM solution, mStart supports master data management processes by removing duplicates, standardizing data (mass maintaining), and incorporating rules to eliminate incorrect data from entering the system in order to create an authoritative source of master data. Implemented solution provides processes for collecting, aggregating, matching, consolidating, quality-assuring, persisting and distributing such data throughout an organization to ensure consistency and control in the ongoing maintenance and application use of this information. Project included four master records, customer, supplier, account and cost center and it was conducted in two phases including 26 companies in Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Hungary.

Project was carried by our team of experts and IBM’s MDM technical experts. We are proud that the project which started in mid of 2019 was done within the planned timeline and the budget.

Project benefits

• Business users raised awareness about MDM processes, not just in headquarter but in subsidiaries, especially about data quality and relevant master data attributes
• The project initiated organizational changes, MDM council established which is responsible for introducing MDM procedures. Also Data Stewardship department was established that ensures that the data was gathered, stored, managed and accessed appropriately.
• IBM MDM solution is providing a fast and efficient way to facilitate enterprise-wide reporting, cash management, risk analysis, etc
• In parallel, mStart implemented IBM Controller for legal consolidation and with MDM project we provide prerequisites for integration between IBM Controller and ERP systems
• Through project IBM educated mStart’s professionals and mStart is enabled to support implemented or introduce new processes in the MDM solution
• Business is introducing new procedures and processes using IBM MDM solution

From selection process, through project and in the post production time we had trusted and reliable partner in IBM. IBM team helped us with getting every information we needed in decision-making process and MDM project team guided us through whole project without any problems.

Today we can proudly say – we are using our data in a smart way to make business decisions and to serve our customers all over the Adriatic region.