Enterprise Inventory Management Best Practices

Overview

Some attributes appear in multiple inventories because they describe characteristics shared by items of different types. An organization name appears in the Vendors Inventory, the Partners Inventory, and the Customers Inventory. A person’s name appears in the People Inventory, the Contracts Inventory as a signatory, and potentially in the Risks Inventory as a risk owner. Without a master data management approach, these shared attributes are maintained independently in each inventory, producing inconsistencies that undermine cross-inventory queries and relationship integrity.

Best Practice

Identify the shared attributes that appear across multiple inventories and establish a master data management approach for each. Define an authoritative source for each shared attribute — the inventory or system where that attribute is managed and from which all other inventories should reference or synchronize. Implement synchronization mechanisms to keep non-authoritative copies current with the authoritative source. Where synchronization is not feasible, establish a process for detecting and resolving inconsistencies between copies of shared attributes across inventories.

Benefit(s)

A master data management approach for shared inventory attributes ensures that the Enterprise Model is internally consistent. Organization names mean the same thing across all inventories that reference them. Person identifiers resolve to the same individual across all inventories that reference them. Cross-inventory queries produce correct results because the attributes that join inventory items are managed consistently. The Enterprise Model gains coherence that disconnected, independently maintained copies of shared attributes cannot provide.