In the last two series of posts we have been discussing the challenges of application integration with a maturing master data management (MDM) repository and index, and an approach that attempts to easily enable existing applications to incrementally adopt the use of MDM. This approach involves developing a tiered architecture that is flexible enough to maintain a synchronous master repository and index. It also provides a variety of master data services spanning the different usage scenarios for shared access to a presentation of information about uniquely identifiable entities. The layers in this tiered architecture include:
- A data layer for managing the physical storage medium for shared master data;
- An access layer that can enable access to the data layer in a way that satisfies the load, response time and bandwidth requirements of multiple applications running simultaneously; and
- An application services layer comprising the core services common to multiple applications and business processes to provide business-oriented capabilities supporting production applications.
A tactical approach to implementing this services stack has to be aligned with application uses of its local copies of entity information that typically would be absorbed into the master view. However, there are some common functional patterns that reflect application uses that are simultaneously aligned with the typical functionality of MDM system products.
Okay, so if the application’s requirements for accessing data that would be master data are similar to the capabilities provided by the MDM product, why not just use the MDM services directly? This goes back to the core challenge: most owners of production applications are not ready to immediately switch from using their own siloed data set to using the shared master data set unless they can be assured that the results are equivalent. Abstracting out these layers allows for selected transitions, which can help establish a level of trust and provide a reasonable migration strategy. More over the next few weeks…
