In multidomain Master Data Management (MDM) we often focus on the two most frequently addressed domains being Customer MDM and Product MDM.
However, managing the critical data elements that describes the vendors to an enterprise is increasingly being on the agenda in MDM implementations.
Handling vendor master data shares a good deal of the same challenges as with customer master data, as we are describing real world entities that have a role as a second party to our enterprise. In more cases than what often is acknowledged, vendors may also have a role as a customer or other business partner roles at the same time. In my eyes, we should handle vendor master data as a subset of party master data as described in the post about How Bosch is Aiming for Unified Partner Master Data Management.
The self-service theme has also emerged in handling vendor master data as self-service based supplier portals have become common as the place where vendor master data is captured and maintained. Where making the first purchase order or receiving the first invoice was the starting point for vendor master data in the old days, this is often not the case anymore.
By the way: The self-service theme also spreads to when we are going to receive information about the products the vendors are supplying to you as told in the post called PIM Supplier Portals: Are They Good or Bad?
Liliendahl on Data Quality 