One of the top challenges in product Master Data Management (MDM) is the sharing of master data attributes and digital assets across the ecosystem of manufacturers, distributors, retailers and end users.
There seems to be a range of solutions emerging in order to cover that land. Three kinds of approaches will be:
- Supplier engagement within Product Information Management (PIM) solutions.
- Similar solutions within wider IT offerings.
- Social PIM.
Master Data Management (MDM) platforms with strong offerings for the product domain comes with built-in functionality for engaging suppliers in the process of collecting product master data attributes and related materials as product sheets, images and other digital assets.
You may also find similar functionality within the broader software suites as for example the SAP Product Stewardship Network.
A somewhat different approach may be called Social PIM as explained in the post Time to Turn Your Product Master Data Social? Here the collection process is sort of independent of in-house systems. This may, in the long run, help with having your suppliers having to attend many different solutions and also help your customers depending on where you sit in the ecosystem.
What is your experience regarding sharing product master data?
Liliendahl on Data Quality 
Dear Henrik, could you compare SAP Product Stewardship Network and Actualog.com – what is the difference?
Please, check the post hyperlinks. Looks like it should be http not https…
Thanks Kate. Link updated. Yeah, maybe SAP is social (so far in this context). Do you have any pitch yourself on why Actualog is the best choice?
Henrik –
I’m sure you also had in mind capabilities like GDSN/GS1/1WorldSync. In some industries, these kinds of data pools are becoming very important (at least for the medium term future).
Great blog!
– Dennis Moore
Thanks for adding in Dennis. Indeed Global Data Synchronization has been there for quite a time already supporting sharing very basic product information.
Oh, I have found the difference. The reality is cruel. SAP is not Social in a way I see it. I tried to register but my account was deleted. So Actualog is better because we are open 🙂
Our concept is much wider, we support not only simple products, but also software systems, integrated solutions. In addition, we give the opportunity to join the independent experts who do not want to publicize their company.
SAP e-mail below:
____________
Dear Kate,
Thank you for your interest in SAP Product Stewardship Network (PSN). As a collaboration community for product manufacturers, their suppliers, and their distributors/retailers, PSN has seen rapid adoption by both large and small enterprises, on a global basis. Its primary function is to allow manufacturers to establish trusted relations with their supply chain partners to exchange product critical compliance and sustainability data.
We have not defined a role for IT Service Providers on the network yet. However, we are open to explore opportunities with companies who have a clear value proposition, and a non-competitive position towards SAP. Feel free to reach out to us.
In the meantime we will delete your account by September 18, 2014.
Thank you and best regards,
Patrick
The SAP Product Stewardship Network Team
__________
Looks like Actualog is the only one real Social PIM…. We are open to everyone, even SAP folks can register and join our exper community. We even have a category for MDM software. http://en-us.actualog.com/category/master-data-management-system
High five Kate
God, it looks like we have a relative, an old three-headed mutant, but still. It is much better than to be be alone in the universe 🙂 http://www.sap.com/pc/tech/cloud/software/product-stewardship-network/demos.html
Kate I think your experience is exactly why vendor networks are not the answer. GDS type networks are much more important for the reasons you note. I am skeptical of true ‘social’ networks because of the need to curate the data. You can’t just have a member ‘assert’ that a product has an attribute similar to a cat video (to site an extreme example).
Social does not mean uncontrolled and anarchic. That is why we pay great attention to collaboration tools, rights management, manage user access, evaluate qualifications of users and the quality of their work.
Each object in Actualog have administrators and moderators in the category, product, company. Social means for us that there is a convenient and transparent mechanism for obtaining rights, and the right can get as a company and an individual. Especially if we are talking about product categories, and not about a particular product. We have a complete log of all actions. Manufacturer has a priority in managing product information. GDSN is great but I believe that it is time for better solutions in terms of simplicity and user experience. Add openess of Wikipedia to Facebook simple interface and multiple by SAP accuracy and user responsibility and you will have the idea.
Well, we would be happy to have a community like GS1 to supervise Actualog data, it is a directions we want to move…
What is Social PIM – http://blog.actualog.com/7-principles-of-social-pim/
I totally agree on the “Supplier engagement within Product Information Management (PIM) solutions” point. We are doing this kind of platforms but depending to the company culture, it is eally hard to implement in a good and smart way.