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Data is Classified - Whats Next? - Enrichment

We discussed taxonomies last time. Depending on your goal - whether its sourcing optimization or master data management or just spend analysis you can decide on what taxonomy you want to use - either global one like UNSPSC or your own or something available through service provider. Based on that taxonomy your service provide can run the engine and give you data classified.

The delivery mechanism comes next. You need a dashboard kind of solution to slice and dice your data so your analysis give you information. So you got it. You can identify negotiable vendor set and go for savings. Thats one way of looking at it.

If your goal is sourcing optimization and master data management then you need something additional - data attribute enrichment. What does that mean?

You have material master with you at different plans, site and systems. Do you know whether its in good shape? Does it contain only 1 record for each material or there are many? Your system might be capable of doing search of same similar items etc, but does it contain that type of data? Answer to all this is NO.

Somebody came in, look for a material with a name or category and couldnt find exact one. Thought that it may not be there - so created one. One material is referred as ABC in one system other says its XYZ. One reseller/vendor/distributor calls in PQR other says its DDD. So what? If you have cleansed material data in your system, then you should be able to find same material across different plants, systems.

What you need - data cleansing, identifying duplicates, standardize identification method for all materials, good description and moreover attribute enrichment.

So you have a fluroscent lamp - do you know watts, kelvins, capacity, height, width, length etc etc for every material? Do you want to know who other manufacturer gives you similar items with similar attributes at different cost? You can do this if you have attributes of the data enriched. The potential savings doing this activity is much bigger that what you think.

If you need more information on how this can be implemented - write to me on pmendki@gmail.com . I will make sure you get the right path.

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