Open Source Master Data Management The Time is Right White Paper
Table of Contents Introduction... 2 Open Source Market Requirements... 2 Freedom... 3 Predicting the Effects of Open Source on MDM... 4 Talend and MDM... 5 Page 1 of 6
Introduction Mastering data has been a goal for as long as there have been disparate, heterogeneous, data sources. Until today, access to the necessary tools to realize this goal has been cost-prohibitive. Additionally, homegrown development of a proper master data solution often proves too complex and difficult to evolve and maintain. Master Data Management (MDM) has proven to be extremely valuable, but only as an esoteric solution restricted to elite or large organizations with huge resources. Open source MDM introduces a new approach. It reduces implementation complexity, time-to-value, and cost. In fact, open source in any market helps organizations overcome these obstacles and realize their goals. Open Source Market Requirements Successful introduction of open source software often depends on a set of conditions that develop in a particular market. A market ripe for open source will have similar models around it. It has matured to a level of acceptable standards and will ultimately have the right momentum to propel success of the offering and the market as a whole. Open source accelerates market penetration and MDM fits this key criterion for the right timing. Similar Models The data integration and data quality markets which are both very close to MDM already have successful open source alternatives available. Page 2 of 6
Industry Maturity The industry having evolved and matured, there are solid definitions of the requirements placed on an MDM system. A standard definition of requirements marks the beginning of the commoditization of the market and the entry of open source. Industry Momentum Today, there are many successful MDM implementations. There are a growing number of MDM practitioners as well as a vibrant community of concerned developers, stewards, and consultants. Freedom Free Software is a matter of freedom, not price. GNU Project The dual meaning of the word free in the English language sometimes leads to confusion as to the free nature of open source software. With open source, the software is free to the community as in a democracy of software, not free as in free beer. Open source software often leads to more complete solutions to a problem because: a) The community contributes to its creation and completeness. b) It works well with other open source solutions to expand and include like functionality. The fundamental characteristic of open source is the community and, fundamental to the community, is freedom. In the open source model, the consumer enjoys the freedom of the solution while capturing the full benefit of an organization with deep core competencies on the solution to advance development, incorporate community feedback and best practices, and support and train resources using the solution. With an open source solution the user is given a well defined solution with a clear upgrade path and well supported features. Page 3 of 6
Predicting the Effects of Open Source on MDM Open source has been successful in other software markets. We can review the effects it has had on these other areas to discern and possibly make bold predictions of its effect in the MDM marketplace. These include: Democratization - Open source is set to democratize MDM. It will bring the software to any size organization and enable small and large scale MDM projects. MDM will no longer be considered for only large projects with long-term milestones, but will be considered for an increasing number of discreet small projects as well. The open source model empowers anyone with a strategic view of data to begin mastering data in their environment. This will let quick, lightweight, and inexpensive MDM projects demonstrate immediate value, while outlining an architecture for enterprise use. MDM Functional Definition There are as many definitions of the functions that comprise MDM as there are vendors and analysts in the marketplace. In the end, the community will come to a level of understanding of the functions that incorporate master data management and how they apply in the different architectural variations. Community-based data models Industries define their own data models. However, organizations are reluctant to share models. With a developer community, data models will be contributed and collaboration fostered to extend a common definition of templates for various verticals. A model should ultimately be open property. Advanced algorithms Entity resolution algorithms are a core component of an MDM solution and are key intellectual property Page 4 of 6
behind many companies. There has been much activity in the developer community to share publicly available algorithms. However, there has never been a vehicle to implement and compliment the resolution with the complimentary MDM functions. Open source MDM provides this vehicle to extend, advance, and adopt advanced algorithms within the community. Talend and MDM Talend is a key player in the open source community. Talend employees and customers buy in to this model and are dedicated to its success. Open source is part of the genetic fabric of the company. Talend s MDM solutions extend the core Talend competencies of integration and quality with functions that rationalize, master, and perform data stewardship. In fact, the Talend approach to MDM incorporates these core competencies into the functional definition of Master Data Management. This is a natural extension of an already successful product offering. High quality master data is extremely valuable to enterprise business processes and analytics. However, data resides in disparate systems across an organization, is rarely in a standard formats and is often found in varying levels quality. Open source is a positive force that can galvanize the MDM community to strengthen the definition of its function and purpose while extending the reach and availability of a solution. Users now have the freedom to master their data. Page 5 of 6
Talend, the recognized market leader in open source data integration, leverages the open source model to make data integration available to all types of organizations, regardless of their size, level of expertise or budgetary constraints. Talend s solutions connect to all source and target systems. Talend s solutions are used primarily for integration between operational systems, as well as for ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) for Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing, for migration, and for data quality management. Talend s MDM solution is built on open source products, including: IBM Eclipse; JBoss Application Server and Portal; exist Open database; XSD / XML Schema for the XML data models; XSLT for data transformation; Object programming following the EJB 2.1 standards ("Enterprise Java Beans") on JBoss server; XQuery for queries on XML database; Document/literal WSI norm ("Web Service Interoperability") for web services and Bonita for business process management. Page 6 of 6