How do you select a Master Data Management (MDM) vendor? There is of course the RFP way of scoring vendors against a bunch of carefully specified requirements within data model, user interface, architecture and so on. But as I have seen it, maybe the multi-domain way is much more used.

The multi-domain MDM vendor selection process has three basic parameters:

• Distance between locations
• Chemistry between parties
• Price of products

Distance between locations:

Here you measure four numbers:

• N1 = Northern UTM geocode of buyers head quarter
• E1 = Eastern UTM geocode of buyers head quarter
• N2 = Northern UTM geocode of vendors head quarter or major regional office
• E2 = Eastern UTM geocode of vendors head quarter or major regional office

Then using the Pythagorean Theorem you get:

(You could make up the distance on Google Maps as well, but that doesn’t look very scientific).

Chemistry between parties:

Here you, at the meetings between the buying team and the vendor team, measure the occurrence of these sentences:

• Could you repeat that question please?
• Could you repeat that answer please?

(Observe that there may be a correlation with distance in cases where distance calls for the use of a webex for a meeting).

Price of products:

I guess everyone knows how to sum up euros/dollars/pounds/whatever.