In the overwhelming majority of cases, the answer is: "no". Material and service registrations that are not subject to structured processes, pre-defined standards, and trained personnel to manage them will inevitably present tremendous difficulties for the company's internal customers who need to include items in their procurement processes.
The immediate fallout of this operational failure often lies in purchasing the wrong materials, wasting time during quoting processes, stocking out-of-specification items, and even shutting down a production line due to a lack of spare parts resulting from a flawed specification sent to the supplier.
How often do users encounter duplicate and obsolete items in their ERPs? Structured master data management prevents the creation of duplicate items, streamlines searches, and helps reduce operating costs across several departments in the company.
Against this backdrop, Level Group—through its master data management methodology combined with professionals holding extensive experience in item standardization and categorization projects—has been helping companies optimize their databases and redesign their internal processes to extract the best results from their material and service registrations.
“THE KEY BUSINESS POINT IS TO HAVE A STANDARDIZED AND RELIABLE SOURCE OF DATA ACROSS YOUR APPLICATION AREAS.” (SOURCE: FORRESTER RESEARCH, INC. – OCTOBER 14, 2010).
“70% OF COMPANIES REPORTED THAT DUPLICATE RECORDS ARE THE PRIMARY REASON FOR THE DIFFICULTY IN LOCATING ITEMS IN ELECTRONIC CATALOGS.” (SOURCE: ABERDEEN GROUP, USA).
“90% OF COMPANIES CITED DATA NORMALIZATION AS A HIGH-IMPACT ISSUE IN IMPLEMENTING ITEM MASTER DATA MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.” (SOURCE: ABERDEEN GROUP, USA).
“APPROXIMATELY 30% OF COMPANIES WERE UNABLE TO DETERMINE WHETHER THEIR ORGANIZATIONS PURCHASE IDENTICAL OR SIMILAR PRODUCTS FROM DIFFERENT SUPPLIERS.” (SOURCE: ABERDEEN GROUP, USA).
Understand the key symptoms of master data that does not use standards for its management. Several areas of your company may experience difficulties.
✓ Does the user take too long to search for the material they need?
✓ Is the part number in the ERP not recognized by the supplier?
✓ Does the user find multiple material codes for the same item?
✓ Is the user unable to locate the desired material because descriptions are poor and insufficient?
✓ Are the part numbers in the ERP incorrect or incomplete?
✓ Did the supplier deliver the material that was ordered?
✓ Is the material procurement process slow because it requires multiple adjustments to the specification of the material to be quoted and purchased?
✓ Are Spend Analysis initiatives inconclusive?
✓ Does the supplier state that, for the provided part number, the material's technical specification differs from what is in the ERP?
✓ Difficulties in managing purchasing history?
✓ Are there items assigned to conflicting general ledger accounts?
✓ Is the NCM code, along with the IPI tax rate, improperly linked to items in the database?
✓ Difficulties in processing invoice payments?
✓ Are your bills of materials incomplete or do they contain incorrect part numbers?
✓ Did the supplier send material that is incompatible with your application?
✓ Are the technical standards in the description incorrect?
Contact Level Group for more detailed information. We will be delighted to visit you to present our work proposal.
