Data life cycle

Product Master is a general purpose product information management solution that allows organizations to create a single view of product information. This is part of the Product Master portfolio. The product master data is made available to be used by application systems and business processes.

Although the primary use of Product Master is to master product data, it does allow for a range of information to be capture. If this includes personal data this may require you to determine your GDPR readiness. Review the following section to determine if this applies to your organization.

Product Master ingest data in real-time or batch mode and is typically integrated with several source systems. Likewise, Product Master makes master data available through publishing to target systems (such as an eCommerce site).

Product Master implement workflow-based processes that involve various individuals and team that perform certain tasks (such as legal review, pricing, and approval) to prepare the product information for publishing.

For more information about Product Master's data flow model and key concepts, see Data flow and Key concepts.

What types of data flow through Product Master?

As a general-purpose MDM for Product solution, there is no one definitive answer to this question because use cases vary from user to user. However, it is likely, that customers of Product Master use it to interact with data that relates to the following categories:
  • Product information - This is at the core of this solution: the entry, maintenance, and publishing of product information.
  • Supplier information - Often associated with the product information is supplier data and potentially contact information.
  • Business user data – The user of the system may have some of their information stored in the system. This may be limited to user credentials or contain a broader range of information.

What are the lawful bases for processing?

The lawful bases for processing are set out in Article 6 of the GDPR. At least one of these must apply whenever you process personal data:
Consent
The individual has given clear consent for you to process their personal data for a specific purpose.
Contract
The processing is necessary for a contract you have with the individual, or because they have asked you to take specific steps before entering into a contract.
Legal obligation
The processing is necessary for you to comply with the law (not including contractual obligations).
Vital interests
The processing is necessary to protect someone’s life.
Public task
The processing is necessary for you to perform a task in the public interest or for your official functions, and the task or function has a clear basis in law.
Legitimate interests
The processing is necessary for your legitimate interests or the legitimate interests of a third party unless there is a good reason to protect the individual’s personal data which overrides those legitimate interests. (This cannot apply if you are a public authority processing data to perform your official tasks.)

Personal data used for online contact with IBM

Clients can submit online comments/feedback/requests to contact Product Master topics in a variety of ways, primarily:
  • Public comments area on pages in the IBM Product Master community on the IBM Developer site.
  • Public comments area on pages of IBM Product Master product documentation.
  • Feedback forms in the IBM Product Master community.

Typically, only the client name and email address are used, to enable personal replies for the subject of the contact, and the use of personal data conforms to the IBM Online Privacy Statement.